


The Institute for the Divine Craft

by rayo



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Dom/sub Undertones, F/M, High Priest Nicholas Scratch, Nick Scratch is a Natural Born Leader, Power Play, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship, explicit sexual content in later chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2020-03-02 05:52:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 18
Words: 82,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18805045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayo/pseuds/rayo
Summary: After a humiliating spat with Father Blackwood pushes Sabrina away from her witching life and the Academy, Madam Satan crafts an alternative solution to move Sabrina Spellman further down the path of night. Ultimately leading her to the Institute for the Divine Craft. A handsome Headmaster with mysterious ties to her father, convinces Sabrina to abandon her mortal life, and cultivate her abilities as a child of the Church of Lucifer.





	1. The Final Straw

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for taking the time to check out my story. Whether you're a new or returning reader, I'm glad you're here and hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Just figured I'd put this here to promote the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Discord server I'm trying to get going. (Invite Link: https://discord.gg/VuQt2pN) As well as, share my Pinterest board for this fic (https://www.pinterest.com/rayotap/institute-for-the-divine-craft/).
> 
> Update: I'm revising a lot of this story, it's not really changing the plot or anything critical, I'm just trying to improve my writing in areas I feel like it lacked before ;)

It was a customary morning at the Spellman Mortuary. Zelda Spellman, the irrefutable matriarch of the household, sits poised at the dining room table. In her hands, an Italian witches paper is held taut. Its front page bearing a headline that reads ‘ _Il Rapido Aumento di Culto di Lucifero.’_ While she doesn’t favor any particular publication, Zelda firmly holds the belief that it’s her duty to stay current with international proceedings in the Satanic Church in the event anyone should anyone ask. 

Being forced to bear the burden of being born a woman, she’s ineligible for priesthood; so she chooses to bolster her coven in other ways. Through her daily briefings, she’s made herself an indispensable resource to the man that actively holds power by keeping him fashionably informed on all affairs in the witching world. 

Per usual, the paper is only set down once her sister Hilda places a sterling tray of her morning coffee and hand rolled cigarettes on the table in front of her. The flavor of the week is a special blend of dried tobacco, honeysuckle, and acacia leaves, one that Hilda resorts to when she’s aware her sister is under significant duress. 

Hilda checks her reflection in one of the houses many ornate mirrors, making sure that her Bride-of-Frankenstein makeup is perfect. She loves to impress Cee with the extra effort she puts into her work uniform, and lately the reactions she’s received have made the extra few minutes she spends in the morning worthwhile.

Ambrose is sprawled out on a couch in the parlor, nose-deep in a warlock-loving-warlock harlequin novel he’s placed a glamour on, so it masquerades as a ritual binding text, should anyone else care to take notice of the books cover. 

With a slam of the front door that shakes the houses’ very foundation, there’s a disturbance to the peace. The previously mundane atmosphere grows tense and uncertain, when an exasperated mess of platinum blonde hair storms into house, headed straight towards the dining room, “Aunties, I can’t go back to the Academy!” 

“Well, lovely to see you too cous,” Ambrose quips from his reading spot near the fireplace. 

Unbothered by her dramatic entrance, his attention quickly returns to his book

“Hush, hush Sabrina. Now what did you do to bring about such an absurd idea?” Zelda chides, unceremoniously setting her teacup on the table.

She takes a quick drag off her cigarette holder before turning her attention to the door frame. After setting her vice carefully down on the table, Zelda squints at her spitfire of a niece, and subconsciously brings two fingers to each temple in an effort to preemptively soothe her impending headache.

“It’s not what _I_ did Auntie,” Sabrina huffs, before taking a seat at the table.

“I asked a simple question in my conjuring lecture, and father Blackwood loudly chastised me in front of the entire class, saying that I shouldn’t worry about such things because a witch would never be able to do such a thing.”

Zelda only gives a blank stare, to which Sabrina groans at the realization that she clearly isn’t getting her point across.

“He was saying it was because I’m a _girl_ ,” she adds for tact.

A blueberry muffin is set in front of her, but the gesture is ignored in favor of finishing her tirade. 

“Can you believe it? Honestly, I would’ve preferred it if the discrimination was due to my being a _half-breed,_ as students at the Academy so elegantly put it!” Sabrina spits, still obviously seething from the interaction.

“Well Dearie, what do you suppose you would do in place of attending the Academy?” Hilda asks with her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“Oh Hilda, stop entertaining her ridiculous fantasies. _I_ will have a talk with Father Blackwood. Until then, Sabrina may return to Baxter High, so her hot head has time to cool down until things are settled.”

“Now go get to school, there’s over half a day left and I won’t entertain a truant. I’m sure Principal Wardwell would still be willing to work with you...” Zelda dismisses with her lips pursed, lazily waving Sabrina out the door.

* * *

Bursting through the front doors of Baxter High with the same volatile energy she afforded her aunts, Sabrina makes a beeline towards the administrative offices. When she opens the door, the secretary jumps in her seat, holding a hand over her heart as she regains her composure.

While straightening up the items on her desk, she welcomes Sabrina with a kind smile, “Oh! Sabrina you’re back.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you Mrs. Meeks. I was actually wondering if Principal Wardwell might be free to speak with me for a moment.”

“I’ll phone her. Please, have a seat.”

Before she can even begin to dial the number, Mrs. Wardwell saunters into the front office.

“I thought I heard your voice Sabrina, come now,” she beckons, pivoting her stiletto-clad legs to lead them back to her office.

Stolas, her loyal familiar, sits perched outside her office window. Proud he had alerted his master to the young Spellman’s presence.

She makes an attempt to appear genuinely shocked at Sabrina’s arrival. Though in all honesty, she was expecting it.

“What brings you back to Baxter High Sabrina? Is everything alright at the Academy?” 

“Actually, that’s why I’m here. Things are less than okay, Father Blackwood’s being a blatant misogynist. And I wasn’t exactly given a warm welcome by my classmates...”

Lilith has many ears in the Academy to ensure that Sabrina not stray from the Path of Night. So, while she was already made aware of the harrowing Sabrina endured, perhaps she was wrong in assuming that it wouldn’t faze her. She had figured that given Sabrina’s stubborn nature, she wouldn’t let her adversaries win so easily, or at the very least she’d go down swinging.

“Oh dear, I’m afraid that’s not very out of character for Faustus, given the rumors that surround that man. What are you planning to do about that? A hex perhaps?” she supplies with a devilish smile. 

While Satan had charged her with the task of keeping Sabrina on the Path of Night, encouraging her to engage in mischief for Hell of it, was admittedly somewhat enjoyable.

”Not sure yet, my Aunt Zelda says she’ll speak with him, whatever that means. But I sincerely doubt I’ll get anything in the vein of Father Blackwood publicly apologizing for humiliating me...”

“Who knows, maybe she’ll convince him to issue an official statement, saying that it was just a mistake and that he genuinely views witches and warlocks as equals,” Sabrina quips sarcastically with an eye-roll.

Mrs. Wardwell opens her mouth to say something but Sabrina is still reeling and cuts her off before she can get a word in otherwise, “I’ll probably just return to Baxter High full time until Father Blackwood is out of the picture.”

Sabrina takes a candy from the bowl on her desk and surreptitiously pops it into her mouth. Lilith looks at the bowl skeptically, as she’s only just discovering that she has mints on her desk. 

“You know it’s not that simple Sabrina, you signed your name in the Book of the Beast. Even your witch court trial determined that you could only maintain your mortal life if you also attend the Academy and regularly go to Black Mass...“ 

She dismisses the idea with a sardonic laugh, “If the Dark Lord wants to punish me for playing hooky then so be it.”

Staring Lilith straight in the eye, Sabrina speaks with certainty,  “I’m not going back to the Academy anytime soon. The environment there is downright hostile Mrs. Wardwell.”

“How so?” she feigns concern for Sabrina. 

“Harrowings where witches kill their own kind as a sick form of hazing, jealous witches placing hexes on each other seemingly for the Heaven of it? Plus, the Weird Sisters have had it out for me since before my Dark Baptism, sharing a dormitory with them isn’t exactly a cake walk...”

“Well that’s just unacceptable... no wonder you don’t want to go back.”

While her priority is to ensure Sabrina stays on the Path of Night, she considers the fact that the Academy only seems to be pushing her from it, and starts searching her mind for other options that would keep Sabrina devoted to the Dark Lord.

“Thanks for talking with me, but I need to get going to class,” Sabrina says to excuse herself.

Then, a whisper in Lilith’s ear from none other than the Dark Lord himself suggests an alternative for the impressionable teenage witch in front of her.

Frantically she stops her in her tracks, “wait!”

Sabrina looks cautiously at the hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

“I’m not sure if you know this, but the Academy of Unseen Arts isn’t the only institution for witches Sabrina. With your lineage and seemingly natural ability, I think you could get into just about any dark institution you’d like.”

“Natural ability?” 

She’s not normally one to question praise, but she’s not exactly sure what Mrs. Wardwell means.

“Why, Sabrina... You summoned _Hellfire_ , performed an exorcism, crossed into limbo, and had some partially successful, yet rather misguided, necromantic efforts. While you might not be following a traditional path, you’re tapping into some Dark Magics that few have successfully accomplished and you should be quite proud of yourself.” 

Sabrina feels a heat rise to her cheeks, when it’s phrased like _that_ , it’s hard to argue.

“So, so these witch schools have brochures or something? How do I know what options I have?”

“Well there are around a hundred _officially recognized_ academies around the world whose teachings align with the Path of Night, some more bohemian schools with smaller student bodies as well, though you should stay clear of those as they unfortunately tend to attract the nutcases of the witching world..”

“ _Around the world…”_ Sabrina whispers to herself.

 _“_ That would mean leaving Greendale?” she questions, it’s mostly rhetorical, but she doesn’t want to jump into this blind; despite how thrilled she is with the thought that she can’t be forced back to the Academy if there are alternatives available..

“Well, there are plenty in the U.S., a few of them in New England, one down in Virginia, a handful in New Orleans, some in the Pacific Northwest. If you want to go overseas that’s an option as well...” Mrs. Wardwell replies coolly, knowing that wherever Sabrina ends up, she’ll be able to follow her, one way or another.

“I can’t just leave my Aunties, Ambrose, Roz, Suzie, and _Harvey…”_ Sabrina’s voice grows softer with each person mentioned.

“I mean, I know we’re technically not together right now but I can’t help but think we’ll end up back together once everything settles down...” she awkwardly presses her lips together at the realization she grossly overshared. She wasn’t intending on thinking about her relationship with Harvey today, let alone talking about it. 

“You’re familiar with spectral apparition? In the same vein, physical apparition is a highly-effective method of transport, your father actually has some writings on the practice-”

Sabrina excitedly cuts her off at the mention of her father, “Wait, physical apparition? As in not just astral projecting somewhere? Why haven’t I been taught anything about this?”

“Most witching academies don’t teach it until they deem your studies as finished. For instance, how would you expect Father Blackwood to keep a tight rein on his academy if witches were constantly leaving and entering the premises?”

“When you put it that way, it’s understandable; but, I still can’t believe I haven’t at least heard of it.”

“Well, that’s because there’s a fairly steep learning curve to it, if improperly done there can be disastrous consequences. Plenty of cautionary tales to tell when it comes to physical apparition. Many fatalities to speak of, but the worst are those who’d accidentally transported themselves to the nether realm, rendering their spell casting useless. Inadvertently having subjected themselves to eternal imprisonment due to their inexperience.”

“And?” 

“As long as you do proper research with an experienced mentor, it’s a practice that can be mastered.”

“So, what are my options for schools? Which ones are the best? Any with a female headmaster? What are the schools in New England?” Sabrina probes, desperate to continue her studies without subjecting herself to the ultimate judgement of Father Blackwood.

“Well, when I was in the Church of Shadows there were many young witches and warlocks who would sit for entrance examinations at The Institute for the Divine Craft. Sort of like how mortals have their Ivy League schools, the Institute is the most elite and selective school for our kind.”

“And the entrance exam?”

“Rumored to be excruciatingly difficult, in a period of ten years only two members of the coven were accepted,” Lilith taunts, knowing that Sabrina would be unable to resist the challenge. 

Serving as the irresistible cherry on top, Lilith adds a personal touch, “their current Headmaster is the High Priest of the Church of Lucifer and from what I’ve heard his philosophy borrows from your father’s teachings... “ 

“Where is the school?”

“New York City.”

“How can I arrange a visit? How long does the process take? Could I possibly get the same Baxter High arrangement?”

“Allow me to handle the hard stuff for you, I actually have a contact there and will make sure to get a good word in for you. Run off to your classes now, I believe it’s around third period.”

“Thank you so much Principal Wardwell,” Sabrina sings with a victorious smile, bouncing out of the office and towards her history classroom.

* * *

The bell signaling the end of the period sounds before she’s able to make it to her history class. Students come out of classrooms, abruptly flooding the halls.

“Sabrina!” Roz excitedly and loudly exclaims from down the hall. They nearly collide with each other from their hurried runs to an embrace.

Sabrina squeezes a little tighter than usual, still holding her friend, “Roz! I missed you so much,” 

A familiar voice interrupts them, “So are you like _back,_ back?” 

“Suzie!” Sabrina says going to hug her friend and avoiding the question.

“Actually, I go by Theo now,” her friend replies in a hushed tone, seemingly trying to make the situation less embarrassing for her.

“Sorry _Theo_ , I didn’t realize,” she replies, pointedly trying out how his new name rolls off the tongue.

“Yeah, when you disappear off the face of the earth for a while you tend to miss important things,” a voice from behind them with a bit of an edge interjects.

 _Harvey._ Sabrina didn't actually know how things we’re going to be between them, but taking his sharp tone into account, she figures they’re still on thin ice.

“Harvey,” Roz says in a warning tone, placing a hand on his arm to calm him down.

“So, are you back Sabrina or are you going to continue to walk in and out of our lives?” 

“Harvey, _go cool off,_ ” Roz waves him off before taking Sabrina’s hand and walking with Theo excitedly towards the library for their lunch break.

* * *

After they catch up and talk for a little while, Roz’s phone buzzes, then she’s abruptly running off, leaving Theo and Sabrina to themselves.

“Sabrina, I have something to tell you and I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“Theo, I’ve performed an exorcism and summoned Hellfire. I think I can handle whatever you’ve got for me.”

“I think Harvey and Roz are dating… I’m not sure, but they’ve been doing a lot of running around on the down low. They’re more _touchy-feely_ than before, and I’ve walked up on them before where they’ve been pretty close or jumped apart when they realized I was there,” Theo says and continues to look at Sabrina in an effort to gauge her reaction.

Sabrina swallows a newly formed lump in her throat and tries to stay composed, “well, Harvey and I aren’t together anymore. Honestly, I’m more upset at the fact they seem to be excluding you from things,” she replies with false bravado, attempting to hide her genuine sadness at the news. 

“I need to go, class is about to start,” Sabrina gets up and briskly walks out of the library.

Theo calls after her, “We’re going to the same class!”

Sabrina storms out of the school and runs away into town.

Lilith watches out her window at Sabrina storming through the parking lot and smiles slightly to herself. Surely, she would’ve had fun plotting a way to sever Sabrina’s attachment to her mortal pets, but if her retreating form was any indication, it would appear as if no additional intervention was required. 

Ending up at Dr. Cerberus’, Sabrina bursts through the door. Thankfully there’s only one other customer and they seem preoccupied by whatever it is that they’re doing on their laptop. Sabrina goes up to the counter when she sees her Aunt Hilda unpacking boxes of books.

“Aunt Hilda...” Sabrina starts, while any composure she had walking into the store had begun to shatter.

“Why aren’t you in school? Is everything alright?” Hilda questions her but falls silent after taking in the dejected look on her niece’s face.

Hilda hurriedly makes her way around the counter and embraces her niece in a hug, while Sabrina begins to silently sob into her shoulder. After a few minutes of working through the initial wave of emotion, Hilda makes a pot of tea for them and they sit down in the little cafe section of the bookstore.

“Do you want to talk about what happened, love?”

Sabrina’s eyes are puffy from crying. With her nose running slightly she reaches for the tea in front of her. She takes a sip, and then lets out a deep breath. Finally calm enough that she can articulate her thoughts.

“I don’t know why this hurts so much, we were separated. I shouldn’t have just expected he’d stay single forever...”

“Of course, I should’ve known this was about Harvey...” Hilda softly reprimands herself for being so dense.

“Well dearie, he’s your first love. It’s perfectly normal to feel this way, especially since your breakup didn’t provide much closure,” she reaches across the table and places her hand over Sabrina’s to comfort her.

“He’s with Roz, auntie. I don’t know how to deal with it. If it was just some other girl from Baxter I could have all this anger towards the both of them, but it’s _Roz_ and _Harvey_. I know they wouldn’t do this just to hurt me…” She sheds some tears at the thought.

“But at the same time, I just don’t know if I can take seeing them together all the time, _happy and in love_ …. Like how Harvey and I were,” Sabrina pouts and cries a bit more, mourning the loss of their relationship. 

Hilda tries to console her but Sabrina continues to vent between sobs, “... and of course this also means that we can’t hang out as a group anymore because I can’t watch it, I don’t care how selfish it is… I can’t stand to see Harvey with someone else, let alone my best friend.”

“That halfwit of a witch-hunter, are you sure they’re together?”

“It’s just a suspicion that Theo has, but from the sound of it, I’d be _more_ shocked if they weren’t together.”

“Well, I’d suggest you take a step back. You could just be getting yourself worked up over nothing.”

She fiddles with the pendant Harvey had given her after he told her he loves her, still wearing it despite everything that's happened between them.

* * *

It takes Sabrina a week to get back to Baxter High. A psychological sickness keeping her bedridden with an empty feeling in her gut and a heaviness in her heart weighing her down.

“Oh, Salem. I don’t know how I’m going to get through the day,” Sabrina melodramatically bemoans the day before her. 

Overcoming a sluggish morning, Sabrina makes her way to school and heads to her home room. Before the teacher can even take attendance there’s a dramatic announcement over the school’s intercom system. 

**_“Sabrina Spellman to the front office.”_ **

There’s taunting from Billy Marlin and a few other jocks in the back of the room. Throwing around unfounded words like expulsion and suspension to get a rise out of her. 

Sabrina just nods at her teacher before putting her books away and walking out of the classroom. Harvey is getting something out of his locker and she unfortunately has to walk past him in order to get to the principal’s office. She considers doing some petulant spellcasting, like slamming his locker door shut, or knocking his books out of his arms. She ultimately decides against it though, figuring that whatever slight enjoyment she might get out of it would be fleeting. Instead she opts to glare daggers at the back of his head.

What Sabrina can’t see is the longing gaze he gives her retreating form. 

_Harvey Kinkle really fucking misses being able to hold her._

* * *

Once Sabrina gets to the front office, Mrs. Meeks doesn’t even need to tell her why but regardless, “Principal Wardwell would like to speak with you.” 

She goes back to her office and walks in, “Hey Mrs. Wardwell.”

“Would you shut the door behind you Sabrina?”

Sabrina sits down in her usual chair. 

“I’ve managed to pull a favor. You have a meeting with Headmaster Scratch at The Institute for the Divine Craft. Tomorrow at noon. The school is inside the Belvedere Castle in Central Park, most of the school being underground, for obvious reasons. There’s an entrance spell protecting the school from mortal interference.” 

“If you’re unable to arrange transportation, I’d be willing to drive you. However I believe there’s a bus leaving out of the Riverdale Bus Station early tomorrow morning. I’ve written the entrance spell down here for you, best of luck Sabrina,” Lilith hands her a piece of paper and gives her a knowing glance.

“Thank you so much Mrs. Wardwell, if it weren’t for you I’d probably be at the Academy right now,” Sabrina thanks her, taking the paper and leaving her office.

For the first time since her break up with Harvey, Sabrina had butterflies in her stomach, _the good kind_. 


	2. The Interview

Sabrina took the bus, not wanting to inconvenience her aunties or Mrs. Wardwell for that matter. She sat on the bus, Salem by her side in a cat carrier. Despite bringing her familiar for protection, the bus was somewhat crowded and she had to keep up appearances since people don’t typically let their cat run loose on a bus. Even if their cat is actually a human imprisoned in a feline form.

Regardless of how the meeting should go, Sabrina may not know it, but she was granted admittance to the The Institute for the Divine Craft before she had even set foot in the City.

Once Lilith had set the plans in motion for Sabrina to leave the Academy and Greendale behind, she had conferred with the Dark Lord on the matter, who had then called on High Priest Nicholas Scratch to ensure that he enroll Sabrina as a student at the Institute for the Divine Craft, through any means necessary.

So much like Edward Spellman had signed his daughter's name in the Book of the Beast before she could act of her own free will, her future was already predetermined by the varying forces in her life leading her to this moment.

She gets off the bus at port authority and finally releases Salem from the confines of his carrier. They walk side-by-side to the subway station, and take the A-train to the 81st street subway station. Sitting on the subway train, Sabrina recites the entrance spell from memory under her breath, just so she doesn’t look like a complete idiot reading off a piece of paper when she gets there.

Once they get out of the subway station it’s only about a six-minute walk into central park. They’re almost an hour early so they take a leisurely stroll through the park, allowing Salem to kill some birds, much to the horror of bystanders. Once noon approaches they head to the exterior of the Castle. Which Sabrina had conveniently picked up some literature for, having read through it while Salem acted on his role as a bird serial killer.

As they look up at the building, they overhear a tour guide in a bright green Central Park Conservancy polo giving a description of the building, which piques Sabrina’s interest.

_“And this here is the Belvedere Castle, constructed in 1867-1869 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. It’s an architectural hybrid of Gothic and Romanesque styles. Interestingly enough, when the building was first designed, it was constructed primarily for decoration. However, it’s since adopted some interesting occupants. Since 1919, it has housed the official Central Park weather station. Inside is exhibit rooms and observation decks, which we’re going to go view now, if you’ll follow me this way….”_

Once they’re out of sight, Sabrina begins reciting the entrance spell.

_“Ex spiritibus enim sie te aeris. Qui Omnipotentiam Tuam parcendo clavem ad. Aperi ianuam hanc in Institutum. artificium divinum est. Tenebrarum benedixit domino meo actus. Aperi his studiis. Anima mea aperta est”_

Unlike anything she was anticipating, there were no earth shattering doors opening, nothing visible to the eye. Just a strong force telling her where to go. She has to follow the path the tour group took into the building. She comes upon a door, that she’s willed to open, however it doesn’t budge. The normally chipper tour guide, snaps at her.

“That door doesn’t open. _It’s for decoration,_ ” She says before going off to another section.

Salem meows at a marble statue next to them. One of the Dark Lord with a Latin inscription.

_Arcum Coram Me._

Despite her usual limitations with comprehending the Latin language, she knows it means _bow before me._ Sabrina lowers to the ground in a child’s pose, before standing up again, and giving the door handle another go. This time it opens.

“Come on Salem,” she beckons her familiar to follow her into the uncharted territory.

There’s around 4 flights of stairs to go down before they finally reach a foyer of sorts. It’s very much in the same style as the Academy, though instead of the statue depicting Baphomet, it’s of a gorgeous man, covered in nothing but a loin cloth, and visible wounds on his shoulder blades.

“Lucifer Morningstar, our Dark Lord… Glorious isn’t he?” An immaculately dressed girl appears to greet her. “You must be Sabrina Spellman. I’m Tabitha, I’ve been sent to escort you to Headmaster Scratch’s office. Follow me.”

Sabrina follows after the girl, Salem trailing her as well. Once they reach the dark ebony wood doors, Tabitha opens it and holds the door for Sabrina to walk ahead of her. However, before she even gets the chance to thank her, the door closes immediately behind Sabrina and Tabitha is gone.

For now, Sabrina and Salem are the only two people in the room. A dark and sophisticated office, covered in deep red, dark brown, and black accents. A few candles lit throughout the room and an ornate brass chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Similar to Father Blackwood’s, but the bookshelves are filled, and it smells of burning wood and leather, rather than must and whatever alcohol Blackwood had been drinking.

She’s looking through the titles on the bookshelves, being careful not to touch or even breathe on the books, so as not to overstep.

She hears a door latch open to her right so she readjusts and stands up straight, trying to cover the fact she’d just been snooping slightly.

The door opens, and she figures it must be another student coming into explain something to her. Her posture relaxes a little bit until he walks over towards her an extends a hand, “I’m Headmaster Scratch. You must be the illustrious Sabrina Spellman.”

 _This,_ was not what she was expecting. Never before had she seen, or even heard of a High Priest being this young and _attractive._

 _“Illustrious?”_ She asks, nerves suddenly growing as his appearance takes effect on her.

“Your reputation precedes you. You come here with a glowing recommendation, impressive coursework, rumors that you’ve summoned hellfire, and a impressive lineage.”

“My lineage?”

“I knew your Father, he was a brilliant man. I attended the Academy with him briefly before he matriculated and became High Priest of the Church of Night. I was Blackwood’s protege after your father, eventually learning conjuring from your father. If you have even a quarter of the talent your father did, I can see you excelling here at the Institute.”

Since they’re both still standing, he rectifies the situation by gesturing to the chair on the other side of his desk, “Please, take a seat.”

“Mrs. Spellman, you’re going to have to pay the piper and address something before we can continue,” he says vaguely.

“That is?” she asks, swallowing a newly formed lump in her throat.

“Why have you chosen the leave the Academy?” He asks in a smug tone, clearly reveling in the power his judgement holds over her in this moment.

“I’ve been rifting with Father Blackwood since I had gotten there, first he places me in _general requirements_ classes like Satanic Choir, Latin, and Herbalism. Which while I understand there’s nothing wrong with learning the basics first should a student need to, my time was divided between my mortal studies and the Academy. So with those being the classes he selected for me to take in my limited time there, I might as well just be taking an additional elective at my mortal high school. They offer Latin and choir there as well.”

“Mrs. Spellman, you’re rambling...” His voice low with slight amusement shining through, his confident demeanor makes her heart beat a little faster.

“There was also the hostile environment and his refusal to protect students. I was nearly harrowed to death and he blamed me for causing trouble. I’m sure you’re aware of the graveyard outside of the academy that houses the bodies of all the former Academy students who died as a result of harrowing activities.”

“Go on... _please_ ,” he encourages

“Then he’s I find out that he's reinstated archaic traditions which my father outlawed in his time as high priest, like the Feast of Feasts. I understand everything that Freya sacrificed for the survival of the coven but we’re a a minority population we need to be bolstering our numbers rather than killing a witch for the sake of tradition.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with you. I understand what it’s like to butt heads with Faustus. When I was a member of the Church of Night, I was a close follower of your fathers. Supporting him through reforming the Church. After his untimely death and Faustus’ rise within the church. I decided to find a new coven,  _ergo_ The Church of Lucifer. So given the situation, I’m right in assuming this was a voluntary departure rather than expulsion?”

“Entirely voluntary, Father Scratch,” Sabrina assures him.

“Well, given your past coursework at the Academy of Unseen Arts, I have no reason to think you wouldn’t fare well on the entrance examination. There also are some unfortunate recent vacancies, due to a group of witch hunters targeting a few inebriated students… Solve this configuration and you can join us Ms. Spellman.” He hands her an Acheron like the one she solved on Father Blackwood’s request.

“Please tell me this one doesn’t have a sleep demon entrapped in it,” Sabrina mutters as she takes it from him.

“So you have experience with solving various configurations?”

“Just this particular Acheron...” This statement causes him to curiously quirk an eyebrow.

“I shamefully admit that I have no idea as to what’s entrapped in this specific configuration. I spent three years trying to solve it. I went mad trying to figure it out, and pick it up once every few years for an hour or so to see if my approach has changed… How did you go about solving it?”

“It was in one of my father’s journals.”

“ _Impossible_ , I’ve read  _all_ of them cover to cover and there wasn’t a single word that even mentioned the Acheron,” he replies, waiting for an explanation.

“You can’t solve it by looking into it. You have to close your eyes and take out each screw, one-by-one. On the last page of the journal, there’s a sketch of my mother with her eyes closed, and the page has a crease from having been folded in half, from there you can see that other pages also fold and create two graphics of the Acheron, one normal, and the other with the screws removed. I’d show you the journal, but it’s back in the sanctum at the Academy now.”

“I’ve made copies,” he replies, standing up and walking over to a locked cabinet. Rifling through the journals until there’s one that has a sketch of Diana Spellman in the back.

“This one doesn’t have the creases, would you mind folding it the way you remember?” he says extending the journal to Sabrina, who folds the pages where needed and gives him the final result. “Well, it’s clear that you’ve inherited your father’s acumen,” he states with a warm chuckle, gazing at her in awe..

“Father Scratch, if you don’t mind answering. How old are you?” He shakes his head in amusement.

“Well, It’s been 20 years since my dark baptism. So about 36 in mortal years, but thanks to the Dark Lord’s many gifts, my physical state is closer to that of a twenty year old.”

“My timeline is so skewed, it’s mind-boggling that you went to the Academy at the same time my father did and you’re still so _young._ When were you appointed as High Priest?”

“A little over two mortal years ago, still growing into the position.. I’ll see you at Black Mass tonight?“

“Actually, I have to be getting back to Greendale… I wasn’t really expecting to stay overnight here and the last bus to Riverdale leaves at six,” Sabrina admits sheepishly.

“Well I expect to see you here tomorrow for your orientation then. Sabrina Spellman, I’m pleased to officially welcome you to the Institute of the Divine Craft. Your schedule includes Latin, Satanic Choir, and Herbalism,” he says with a self-satisfied smirk.

Her jaw drops, leaving her mouth slightly agape. Before she can protest, he interjects, " _I'm kidding._.. I’ll arrange an appropriate schedule for you. Something along the lines of conjuring, demonology, ritual binding...”

“Father Scratch that all sounds perfect,”

“Be here, nine am tomorrow. As a student you don’t have to perform the entrance spell. Unlike the Academy, dormitories here aren’t communal, so you’ll have your own room assignment. And maybe rethink where you stand on joining the Satanic Choir, we could use more witches to balance the harmonic scales” he says with a wink.

Standing up and guiding Sabrina out of the office, Salem nudges his leg with his head.

Sabrina smiles slightly and looks up somewhat apologetically, “Coming from Salem, that’s the highest compliment you can get.”

“Get home safe, Spellman,” Nick says, scratching Salem’s head lightly before closing the doors. Briefly reciting a protection spell on her before she leaves the premises.

* * *

Sabrina and Salem make their way back to the Port Authority bus station, leaving on the six o’clock bus towards Riverdale.

The nearly empty bus allows Salem to curl up, sans-carrier, on Sabrina’s lap the whole ride home. The whole experience had been borderline overwhelming. Knowing that she doesn’t have to return to the Academy, she feels lighter. She can already tell this is going to be a good thing, even without having discussed the possibility of physical apparition yet, New York City is less than two hours away from Greendale.  

Headmaster Scratch also seemed to be the polar opposite of Blackwood. Father Blackwood was old, callous, traditionalist, and sexist. Whereas, Father Scratch is young, caring, progressive, and _sexy._ Plus, he was close with her father, which is the cherry on top of it all.

Once she gets back to Riverdale, her Aunt Zelda is waiting in the hearse at the bus station for her.  Sometime along the way home a downpour began, so Sabrina rushes to get in the car. Salem decides to take the long route home. A black crow caws at the sight of the young witch and reports back to its master.

“Hi Auntie Zee, thanks for picking me up,” Sabrina says, shutting the door.

“You’re welcome, how did the interview go?”

“Well, I’m officially a student at the Institute for the Divine Craft,” she replies nonchalantly. Zelda instantly perks up and she gives a rare smile.  
  
“Praise Satan, I am so very proud of you Sabrina. When do you start?”

“Tomorrow actually, I need to be there by nine. Familiars are allowed so obviously Salem is coming with me. I’m really excited auntie,” Sabrina admits.

“Well I must drive you in tomorrow and meet with Headmaster Delvaux, it’s been a while since I’ve spoken with that man,” Zelda says impishly.

“Actually as of two years ago, the High Priest of the Church of Lucifer as well as the Headmaster is Father Scratch,” Sabrina replies.

“ _Scratch?_ As in Nicholas Scratch.”

“I believe so,” Sabrina replies tentatively.

“Goodness, he’s just risen through the ranks hasn’t he...”

“You knew him?”

“Of course I knew him Sabrina, he was a faithful acolyte of your father. Who knows whether or not Edward would’ve been able to ascend to the position of High Priest if it weren’t for Nicholas’ passionate campaigning.”

“Oh, he had just mentioned that he knew my father. We didn’t get that deep into things,” Sabrina replies, surprised at this new information. Feeling even more confident in her choice to attend the academy.

Once she gets home, they briefly celebrate as a family. Hilda serving an iced lemon cake, Sabrina’s favorite, as a means of congratulations.

Sabrina heads to her bedroom to turn in for the night, only for Ambrose to follow her in.

“Indulge me cousin, what is the Institute for the Divine Craft like? Give me every decadent detail,”

“Well, the Gothic architecture is gorgeous. I’m sure you’ve already researched it and have an idea. There’s definitely some sort of sacred geometry in the buildings design, much like the Academy. It’s different though, where the Academy was cold and forbidding, the Institute radiates opportunity and warmth, as if it’s being heated by the flames of hell somehow.”

“Sounds Hellish, did you meet any students?”

“Just the one who escorted me to the Headmaster’s office. Her name was Tabitha, and she was gorgeous, immaculately dressed like she had walked out of the pages of _Vogue_. Also, there wasn’t a statue of Baphomet, the Institute’s centerpiece was a chiseled marble statue of Lucifer. Covered only by a loincloth.”  
  
“Staying true to the name after all, The _Church of Lucifer_ ,” Ambrose figures, taking a sip of whatever liquid his mug held.

“So, I’m only saying this because I know you’ll get a kick out of it. But the High Priest is _gorgeous_. Basically, if Marlon Brando and James Dean had a child that decided to sign his name in the Book of the Beast, it’d be him.”

“It’s official, I’m astral projecting into whatever meeting you have with him next,” Ambrose says cheekily.

“I mean, it was shocking. He looks like he could be a student next to me, but he’s the leader of the church, Headmaster of the entire school, _and_ he worked closely with my father,” Sabrina says excitedly.

“Well, sounds like you’re in for a magical term. I only wish I could join you,” He says staring off somewhere, suddenly his thoughts are a million miles away. Sabrina gives him a tight hug and helps him up. Suddenly appearing alert again he excuses himself, leaving Sabrina to do her packing for the Institute.


	3. The First Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos. f.y.i, the more comments and substantive feedback I get, the more motivated I am to update. Hope you're excited to see where this goes.

Zelda and Sabrina leave for the city at the seemingly unreasonable hour of six am. Wanting to ensure that there’s no possibility for tardiness. By the time they approach the outskirts of the city, and reach The George Washington Bridge to cross the Hudson River, it’s already ten minutes after eight.  
  
“Thank the flames of hell that we left as early as we did. This traffic has been an absolute terror,” Zelda says bemoaning the congestion of the city.

“Auntie, how exactly are you expecting to find a parking spot?”

“I was just going to cast a glamour on the car, make it fire hydrant or something...”

“Auntie Zee!”

“Oh Sabrina, please stop pretending like you have some moral compass,” Zelda rebukes.

“Well at least put an out of order sign on it or something so there’s no attempt to use it...” Sabrina grumbles.

Following Zelda’s plan, the two arrive at the Institute at quarter to nine. Sabrina unloading her bags from the trunk of the hearse and rushing through the park to get to the castle.

Once they get there, as promised by Father Scratch, the door just opens for Sabrina. They go through, making sure to shut the door behind them before descending down into the institutes lobby.

The atmosphere is much more vibrant than yesterday, given they’ve arrived just before classes are to commence. Sabrina guides Zelda to the office, Salem just scouting the premises and jumping on bannisters.

Zelda lifts her hand to knock on the door, but it swings open before she can make contact, and there stands Headmaster Nicholas Scratch himself.

“Sabrina, lovely to have you back… Mr. Scott, if you wouldn’t mind taking Sabrina’s things to her dormitory.”  
  
“Yes, Father Scratch,” another student assistant grabs the bags from their hands and runs off.

“Zelda Spellman, it’s been far too long...”  
  
“Agreed. I believe you were Sabrina’s age the last time I saw you. You haven’t aged at all,” Zelda says eyeing the young warlock up-and-down, as if he were a treat to devour.

“I could say the same of you Mrs. Spellman. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to show you both around the school, send Sabrina off to her first course. After which, I must leave to teach a class. I wasn’t expecting you Zelda, but if you’d like to stay around I can have one of my assistants offer a more thorough tour of the institution’s facilities if you’d like. Then we could reconvence in my office and have a word with you during the independent study period for students?”

“Perfect, I’ve cleared my schedule for the day anyhow,” Zelda says, Sabrina watches the interaction closely. Trying to decipher the relationship between them. Surely it was nothing unsavory, but Father Scratch is such an inherent flirt she couldn’t be sure.

They’re given a tour around the school grounds, the entire institute much larger than Sabrina had thought.  So far they’d seen the dormitories, various classrooms, multiple libraries, the music room, the main auditorium, and the cafeteria.

“Here is the desecrated church, where black mass services are held. I hold daily sermons at nine. I also lead midnight services at the Satanic Cathedral, from Thursday to Sunday.”

“Services at the Satanic Temple?” Zelda asks, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.  
  
“His Unholy Eminence approached me during his visit last year and offered the position.”  
  
“I’m sure Edward would be proud of your station, Father Scratch,” Zelda offers, using his official title within the church for the first time.

“I only wish he were still around, there’s still so much left to be done...” Nicholas mutters to himself, suddenly picking up the pace.

“Wander as you wish Zelda, I’m going to walk Sabrina to her Demonology Lecture,” he says, waving Zelda off while Sabrina eagerly follows his lead.

They approach a closed door to which Nicholas opens, the teacher stops dead in his tracks and bows slightly to him. Which is an odd thing to witness as the man teaching the course appears to have at least thirty years on the High Priest.

“Father Scratch,” he says in greeting.

“Professor Kraft, this is Sabrina Spellman. She’ll be joining your class from now on. Take a seat Sabrina.”

Sabrina sits down at the lone vacant chair in the room and watches as Headmaster Scratch approaches the professor and seems whisper something to him. Maintaining eye contact with Sabrina the entire time. After, he pulls away and gives the Professor a strong two handed hand shake. Professor Kraft enthusiastically nods and expresses his willingness to comply with whatever he’d just heard, “of course Father.”

Sabrina feels multiple sets of eyes on her from various places around the room. Recognizing the girl next to her, “Tabitha, right?”

“Correct. Lovely to meet your acquaintance again Sabrina, I must warn you, Professor Kraft is a stickler who doesn’t tolerate side conversations… We’ll speak after class?”

Sabrina nods in acknowledgement, and turns her attention to the front of the room.

“Back to where we left off...”

Sabrina sits through a class, slightly behind but absorbing as much information as she’s capable. The lecture moves so fast that two hours pass in what seems like minutes, with Professor Kraft dismissing the class for their independent study slash lunch period, “Remember, Friday you’ll be tested on the mononoke, so brush up on your Japanese. Your hint is to research literature of the Heian period.”

Sabrina shoves her notes into her satchel, her arm being grabbed by Tabitha, “Come on Sabrina, I’ll introduce you to some friends of mine...”

As they walk through the halls, leading to the communal area outside of the dormitories Sabrina just asks question after question, “What does he mean when he says to _brush up on your Japanese._ ”

“Sabrina darling, you have so much to learn… He’s implying an herbal solution, a translation tonic that will aid in our studies. Most of the literature from the Heian Period we need to be concerned with exists without an English or Latin translation, so whipping up a polyglot potion is just the fix.”

They find some other witches and warlocks sprawled across the furniture, Tabitha leads them to a specific group of _cool_ looking witches

“... well my mother says he was quite the warlock slut in his days at the Academy,” a gorgeous girl with pin-straight blonde hair says from her spot on the floor.

“Witches, this is Sabrina Spellman. Father Scratch is having me show her around… Now what gossip am I missing out on _Adeline_?”

“Hi Sabrina, join us,” _Adeline_ encourages, patting a spot next to her on the floor. Then addressing Tabitha’s question, “Well we were just talking about ho-”

She’s abruptly interrupted, “Adeline was just telling us about her plan to seduce Father Scratch.”

“ _Ellie!_ ” Adeline shrieks, throwing her notebook at the witch.

“Well we _all_ know that’s what you were getting at,” _Ellie_ says with an eye roll, while attempting show consensus from the peers around her.  
  
“So, Sabrina. You’re Edward Spellman’s daughter?” Adeline asks, in an obvious attempt to change the topic.

“Word travels fast around here…” Sabrina replies.

“That’s how you can seduce Father Scratch! Get close to Sabrina, he’s probably obsessed with her given how highly he espoused her father’s teachings. At the very least he’d notice you...”

Sabrina’s mouth is agape and she watches on in slight horror as the girls continue about their plans to bed their High Priest. She gets that he’s attractive but can’t believe that he’d sleep with a student.

“So does he regularly _associate_ with students?” Sabrina asks out of curiosity, trying to determine whether her first impression of the Headmaster was completely off.

“Sadly, no. Apparently he never has. Even during Lupercalia he just stays around briefly for the formalities then disappears… _but_ like Adeline was saying, he had quite the reputation as a student at the Academy for Unseen Arts, so something like that doesn’t just disappear,” Ellie reasons.

“And there’s no Mrs. Scratch in the picture so it’s fair game,” Adeline chips in.

“Like you would care, Addy. It’s never stopped you before,” Tabitha chimes in teasingly.

Despite being friendlier than the girls she’d spoken with at the Academy, the conversations held by teenage witches don’t tend to stray from the common subject matter; _sex, spells,_ and _Satanic events._

“So, Sabrina. What brings you to the institute?” Ellie says, asking the question every girl around her is dying to know the answer to.

“I got into more disagreements with my High Priest than was deemed acceptable...” Sabrina replies, wanting to keep as many details to herself as possible. These girls have no idea that she ran from her Dark Baptism, or still had a mortal life up until her enrollment here.

Surely they know she’s only a Half-Witch but given Father Scratch’s progressive views for the coven, it hasn’t been the issue it was with the Weird Sisters.

“What’s your original coven?” Tabitha prys.

“The Church of Night,” Sabrina replies.

“So you went to the Academy?”

“For a few months, but the Institute has proven to be a much better fit so far,” Sabrina admits truthfully, with only the slightest hint of ulterior motive to win their approval.

“I don’t know how you did it, small town like Riverdale? Must be _such_ a bore...” Adeline chips in.

“Actually it was in Greendale, but Riverdale’s a neighboring town...”

“Such a dishonorable history for the Church of Night as well, turning their backs on the Thirteen the way they did, I have no idea why the Dark Lord doesn’t just set fire to every member of that coven... no offense.” Another witch interjects, “I’m Madison, by the way.”

Sabrina bites her tongue, not mentioning that her aunts and cousin are still active members of the coven.

“Oh, look at the time, we must be off to Conjuring...” Tabitha mentions, and all of the witches rise.

Sabrina checks her schedule, “Looks like I’ll be joining you.”

“Addy, you can set your plan into motion now!” Ellie teases and Adeline aggressively shoves her to the floor.

Sabrina raises her eyebrows in shock, but given the conversations that were just had, it’s safe to assume that she should keep this ruthless group of witches on her side.

Walking through the halls together, they stay in a formation, each girl representing the point of a pentagram. They take up a large chunk of the hallway but no witch or warlock dares to cross their paths.

They eventually reach the classroom and file in one by one. Filling the auditorium, this class is nearly double the size of her previous one.

Once the clock strikes noon, she understands why the lecture is so busy. No one other than Father Scratch walks to the front of the classroom.

“While the first few months we’ve focused on conjuration theory, and analyzing various incantation methods. This class has had the highest marks on the quarterly examination, out of any conjuration course I’ve taught. So as a reward for your exemplary performance, today’s lecture is going to be a more hands on approach. I have six turtle doves caged in my office, you are to form groups and craft an incantation that will conjure a dove here. Get to work, I’ll be watching...”

Sabrina joins a group with her new friends. They get to work on creating the spell, pulling a variety of Latin animal-incantation spells from their textbooks.

“So who wants to make the part pertaining to Father Scratch’s office? I’m not the best at Latin...”

“Oh, do you want some of my polyglot tonic Sabrina?” Ellie asks.

“No, no. I would not trust that… Ellie had to retake Herbalism, _twice_ ” Adeline interjects, causing a chuckle from the group, causing a dejected look to overtake Ellie’s otherwise sunny demeanor.

“I’ll just write it, then one of you can translate it?” Sabrina suggests as a middle ground and everyone seems to agree.

_“In the study of Nicholas Scratch,_

_a cage of birds confined by a latch_

_Might of conjuration called to me,_

_A lone turtle dove come to thee”_

After finishing it, she passes the paper off to Tabitha to translate.

_"In quod bibliotheca quae sunt Nicolaus Scratch,_

_A custodia quadam foramen et volucres_

_Conjuratio virtus est dicta sunt mihi:_

_A sola turturis venit ad te”_

Suddenly a flock of turtle doves flies overhead, another group must have made an attempt.

“Those are _not_ from my office!” Father Scratch yells out, then runs through the room looking for the responsible group. He approaches them.

“Show me your work,” he commands. Sabrina hands him her English incantation, while Tabitha gives her Latin one over.

“We haven’t performed it yet Father,” Adeline explains. He proceeds to scrutinizes their work for a few moments.

“This should work, no need for the Latin translation. While a topic of contention among conjuration scholars, you can perform mundane incantations in any language. However when dealing with demonic conjuration it’s helpful to know what their origin is, Latin is always a safe backup when the demon’s background is unknown, but it’ll be more effective to use their native tongue. _exempli gratia,_ if you were attempting to conjure Batibat, you’d use either Ilocano or any other Austronesian language.”

Father Scratch places a hand on Sabrina’s shoulder briefly, “Good work Spellman.”

Sabrina’s cheeks flush slightly, knowing that due to the conversation that was held during their study hall, they’d blow the small gesture out of proportion.

Once he’s out of earshot Tabitha quirks an eyebrow, “ _Good work Spellman._ ”

They perform the incantation in English, and a turtle dove appears in the center of the group. Their group now being the first to successfully complete the assignment. Once Father Scratch notices this, he addresses the class, “now if that successful display of conjuration isn’t motivation enough to complete this assignment in a timely manner. You may be dismissed as soon as your group is finished.”

Despite him having technically dismissed them, their group stays around to watch the other groups somewhat comedic attempts, and failures. However, thanks to that announcement, within the next 10 minutes, five out of the six birds are now in the auditorium, with only one group not having finished, the one that had conjured an entire flock at the very beginning of the exercise.

Finally they accomplish the task, so every remaining witch and warlock filters out of the room.

“Mrs. Spellman, may I speak with you?”

Sabrina stops in her tracks and nods, “of course Father Scratch.”

“Bye, bye Sabrina,” Tabitha sing-songs and the other girls mimic her and leave.

He quickly clears the room of the turtle doves and turns to her gesturing to follow him, “walk with me.”

They walk to his office and he shuts the door behind them.

“How is your first day going?

“Honestly, it’s going great. The environment here is much more welcoming than the Academy, I feel like I might be able to fit in for once,” She admits.

“I trust Tabitha is helping you navigate the place? I’m sure the rushed tour I gave wasn’t the best orientation of the school…”

“Yeah, she’s great. My schedule doesn’t have room numbers on it so I seem to have lucked out so far.”

“Your schedules are the same, just follow her around and you’ll never be lost.”

“Is this all you wanted? I should probably be getting to my ritual binding class if there’s nothing else...” Sabrina says, genuinely excited for her next class.

“Actually, I have something for you…” He says, pulling a box out from behind his desk and sliding it across the table to her. Sabrina takes the box into her lap and looks through the contents.

“I took the liberty of making additional copies. You should get to know your father,” he says looking at her, trying to assess her reaction.

A wave of intense emotion floods through her, causing her eyes to water, “Thank you Father Scratch, really.”

“Call me Nick,” he replies and her eyes widen in surprise.

“If you don’t mind that is.”

“I don’t…” she replies somewhat awkwardly, and she considers leaving it at the, but curiosity gets the best of her. So she probes, “but why?

“I never hear my name anymore. It’s always Father Scratch, Headmaster Scratch, High Priest Scratch, not that I mind the titles but if I have to deal with another witch that fears me due to my titles I might just trap myself in an acheron to get away from it all…”

“But truthfully, Speaking with your aunt Zelda earlier really made me remember the time I spent with your father, and I want you to think of me as a family friend rather than an authority figure Sabrina. Obviously that doesn’t mean you can be all defiant for the Hell of it, but I want you to be able to come to me with anything. So, when it’s just us, please call me Nick.”

“Nice to meet you Nick Scratch, I’m Sabrina Spellman,” and with that statement, a brilliant smile made its way onto his face.

“Really, thanks again for the journals Nick, I can’t adequately express how much this means to me,” Sabrina confesses, a smile on her face.

“I get it, having grown up without any family myself. I would do anything to have a piece of my parents, just to know what they were like… thankfully in your case, Edward kept some meticulously detailed journals about his time at the Academy, and in the church. Fair warning, these aren’t as widely circulated as many of your fathers other works, so there’s a somewhat explicit entry about you mother in one of them. If you see her name, brace yourself,” Nick warns with a chuckle.

For the second time today, Sabrina’s face flushes thanks to Nick Scratch. Her eyes widen as if she’s mortified, “Thanks for the heads up.”

She grabs the box and leaves his office without another word said, running off to her dorm room to put the books away. Then worried of her own tardiness she runs off to find her classroom, she grabs the attention of a witch in the common room, “where’s the ritual binding classroom?”

“Down the hall, fifth door on the left,” she replies lazily.

Sabrina quite literally runs, not wanting to miss another second of whatever interesting content is probably being covered at the moment. Since it doesn’t appear like the professor is too engrossed in whatever is being discussed at the moment, she goes right in.

“ _Who. are. You?_ ” the professor asks in a cold, challenging tone.

“Sabrina Spellman, I was in Headmaster Scratch’s office.”

“Have a seat, we’ve been discussing the art of eighteenth century Creole voodoo traditions,” he says rushing her along to the back so he can continue the lecture.

_“So among the fifteen voodoo queens of New Orleans there existed a distinct separation of….”_

Voodoo magic was perhaps one of the most fascinating subjects Sabrina had heard of, but due to the box of her dad’s journals up in her dorm room, it seemed incredibly boring at the moment. Causing her to zone out.

_“In voodoo there’s a popular misconception developed that the principal elements of Voodoo are hexing and sticking pins into poppets.”_

Sabrina couldn’t help but remember the Weird Sisters, and their malevolent practices featuring voodoo dolls. She wondered if they were bored without her there to torture.

“ _On that note, it’s important to bring up the related but not identical practice of hoodoo. To further disprove the mortal belief that voodoo doll’s are purely for malevolent purposes, the very purpose of hoodoo was to allow people access to supernatural forces to improve their lives.  The Hoodoo doll is a form of gris-gris and an example of sympathetic magic. Contrary to popular belief, Hoodoo dolls are usually used to bless and have no power to curse. "_

Sabrina thinks of Tommy and Harvey. How it’s no wonder that Harvey broke up with her, after all it is basically her fault that he had to kill his own brother… But like the hoodoo witches, she was only trying to stop Harvey from suffering.

“....Sabrina, class is over,” Tabitha says somewhat loudly, snapping Sabrina out of her own thoughts.

“Oh, sorry…” she says, collecting her things and getting up, slightly embarrassed

“It took me about thirty seconds to get your attention. Is everything alright? What did Father Scratch speak with you about?”

“It was nothing important, he was checking up on me, wanted to make sure my first day was going well…” Sabrina says.

“Oh surely that’s not all he wanted, the hand he placed on your shoulder in conjuration suggested otherwise,” she teased with a sultry tone.

“You are blowing this way out of proportion, Tabitha… He did give me some of my father’s journals though, wanted to let me get to know my Father better.”

“Already receiving gifts, _so he’s your sugar daddy now_?”

“Oh my God,” Sabrina mutters in annoyance, rubbing her temples.

"Don't worry Sabrina, I'm just teasing... _for now,_ " she says pointedly.

With that Sabrina walks off to her dorm, skipping Black Mass and turning in for the night.


	4. The Mass

The following morning, Sabrina wakes up early and decides to head above ground, for a walk through Central Park. Still having an hour before class time, she stops at the Boathouse, grabbing a cup of tea and a ham and cheese croissant from the small food stand there. She sits down on the park bench and decides to read through the journal she started working through last night. A few pages in and she’s disturbed by someone deciding to sit down on the same bench, despite ten other vacant benches being within a twenty second walk.

She glances up briefly to take a look at the unwanted guest and jumps when she notices it’s Nick. “ _Lucifer Morningstar,_ Nick! You frightened me," She says, with the same connotation a mortal would say _Jesus Christ._

“Don’t you have a class you should be getting to Sabrina?” Nick leaning his arm on the back of the bench, opening his body towards her in the most infuriatingly attractive way.

“Don’t you have a school to run _Headmaster Scratch_?” She retorts, returning her focus to the journal and deliberately using his formal title to prove her point.

“Seems as if we both need to get back to the same place, how convenient,” he says tilting his neck in an attempt to get her to look at him again.

“It’s weird seeing you outside of the Institute,” Sabrina states plainly.

“I wish I could say the same for you Spellman, but it’s only been a day,” he quips back.

Sabrina stands up, tucking her father’s journal back into her satchel and disposing of her cup into the nearest trash receptacle. Nick walks by her side, headed back towards the Institute.

“I know I said it yesterday, but thanks again for the journals _Nick_ ,” she says, testing the name on her tongue.

“Truthfully, they belong to you more than they are anyone else's,” he replies coolly.

Sabrina’s first period goes by quickly, and despite having no prior knowledge of Japanese demons, she catches onto the various figures and stories fairly quickly. For independent study, Tabitha brought a polyglot tonic for them to share, then studied off of flash cards. Unlike yesterday, Sabrina actually went to get lunch from the cafeteria, so there was a slight mental respite.

Showing up to conjuration was different. Thanks to her new friends watchful eyes and the somewhat off-kilter encounter she had with Nick this morning, Sabrina wasn’t quite sure how to act other than to be quiet and only talk when spoken to.

Once they’re dismissed Nick attempts hold her back again,  “Ms. Spellman!”

Sabrina just tries to play it like she didn’t hear him and runs off to her ritual binding class, trailing Tabitha, she definitely does not want to be late two days in a row.

“Sabrina, did Father Scratch just call your name?” She prys.

“Maybe, but I didn’t hear anything,” Sabrina dismisses with a shrug, lying through her teeth.

The rest of the school day went by fairly uneventfully. During dinner there was a minor fight involving two students but Sabrina had nothing to do with it, so she stayed out of it.

Tonight however, was the first Black Mass she was to attend as a student at the Institute. Music playing softly from a speaker in her dorm, she attempts to pick out an appropriate outfit for the occasion.

Black obviously being the dress code of choice, she wasn’t sure if pants were acceptable, or if she should go with a skirt. Different covens had different standards, and while she was sure that they’d probably be more relaxed here given Nick’s progressive approach to running the church, she still wanted to look nice.

Finally deciding on a black lace cap-sleeved fit-and-flare dress, “Does this look alright Salem?”

He meows in approval, causing her to crack a smile.

Sabrina waits in the common room for Tabitha and company, since they’d agreed to walk to the desecrated church together, earlier in the day.

“Sabrina, you look lovely,” Ellie says as soon as she sees her.

“Thanks,” she replies, grateful that Ellie is also in a dress.

She’s followed by Madison, Adeline, and Tabitha. They all head to the church together, and Sabrina can’t help but think, if she weren’t already accepted by them, she’d be terrified if she saw them walking down the hall towards her.

When they arrive at the church they take their seats in the pew.

Nick walks up to the podium and stands, placing both hand flat on the surface and aggressively angling his head towards the ground, “ _In nomine magni dei nostri Satanas, introibo ad altare Domini Inferi.”_

“As children of night we profess that every action we take is in the name of our Lucifer High _, In nomine Dei nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi”_

 _“In nomine Dei nostri Satanas Luciferi Excelsi,”_ is echoed by every witch and warlock in the room.

Returning to a normal standing position, Sabrina watches in awe at his ability to command a room.

“We live to serve our Dark Lord, his will has led to this moment, where you are standing here, a devout follower of Lucifer Morningstar. Let us stand now, unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times.”

“Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the Tree of Knowledge as Lilith did, and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to the false God’s commandments.“

“The false God gives his followers nothing of substance, all his lost followers do is sacrifice, judge, and pray to a false God who refuses to answer their prayers, all in their hopes of avoiding eternal damnation. The false God does not allow for indulgence of any kind, but our incredible Dark Lord, gives us the freedom, to pursue any indulgent thing we desire. _Rege Satanas,_ Satan is King.”  
  
“ _Ave Satanas,_ Hail Satan” is echoed, again by every witch and warlock in the room, all but Sabrina Spellman, still learning and adapting to this unfamiliar mass, varying greatly from what the Church of Night had.

“Followers of the false God must abstain from pleasure, and are required to wait and prove themselves before they may one day perish and ascend to the false heaven.”

“Our Dark Lord, has given us Heaven on Earth and provided us each with an eternity to revel in it.”

“Now, rise Children of Lucifer and come forward to take your unholy communion. Desecrate the Eucharist to denounce the false god and all that is represented through it.”

“Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of One or All. That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise.”

Witches line up, pew after pew walking up to their High Priest Scratch, in an organized fashion. Taking the wafer directly from Nick, then crumbling it in their hands, the mess falling into a bowl of fire below. Once her pew stands and gets in line, Sabrina anxiously awaits her turn.

Once she’s at the front though, she’s transfixed by the man in front of her. She takes the wafer, and stares at him, never breaking eye contact while crushing the fragile wafer in her palm. Once the unholy communion has ended, they all sit down and Nick says some final words to his followers.

 _“ego vos benedico,_ I am blessed to be a follower of Lucifer Morningstar. The Dark Lord does nothing but love his children of night, we are all living proof of it. He’s given us immense power in return for our eternal servitude, we must serve him well. _Rege Satanas,_ Satan is King.”  
  
“ _Ave Satanas,_ Hail Satan.”

And with that, the mass is over. Everyone begins scattering out, but Sabrina is nearly glued to her seat, unable to move or divert her gaze from _him._

Noticing this, he begins to walk towards her, and suddenly she’s freaking out internally. Her heartbeat begins to race and a lightheadedness consumes her.

“What did you think of your first Black Mass within the Church of Lucifer?” Nick asks, despite his cool exterior, the young priest is desperately craving her approval.

“It was nothing like I’d ever experienced before,” she says honestly.

“In what way?”

“Well, in the Church of Night, most services just felt like a form of wish fulfillment or ego stroking for Father Blackwood. This however, was definitely something greater. Every single person here was so invested in your words Nick, I’ve never seen anything quite like it...” She says, trailing off.

“How do you feel?” he asks, seeming genuinely concerned with how she took it.

“Like I’m coming off a high, that was really _intense,_ ” Sabrina admits. Looking at Nick, she thinks that he’s never looked better. He’s _beautiful_ , for her lack of a better word. Sabrina constantly finds herself staring at his lips, then his eyes, the back to his lips. When he abruptly excuses himself, “I have to go.”

She could almost whimper at the loss of his presence. Whatever feelings of desire had existed within her before, were substantially amplified by what she saw of him tonight.

After a fairly normal school day, Sabrina decides to pay Nick a visit at his office to address something she’d been meaning to for a while. She was in a good mood having aced her demonology test, and was excited with having come across something in her fathers journals suggesting the existence of a more educational book penned by her father.

She knocks on his door, and is invited in. He quickly dismisses his student assistant so they can have some privacy. There’s already a smile on his face when she sits down, “Sabrina, what brings you in?”

“Nick, I assume you’re familiar with physical apparition?”

“ _Physical apparition…_ ” he says, astonished by her mention of it. “Where would you hear of such a thing Sabrina?”

“Mrs. Wardwell, my former teacher at Baxter high. She was a member of the Church of Shadows and was the one that set up my entrance interview with you...” she explains, and he is completely taken aback.

The only person who’d informed him of Sabrina Spellman coming to the Institute was the Dark Lord himself. Whomever this Mrs. Wardwell that Sabrina speaks of is, must be conspiring with the Dark Lord, or at the very least have leverage to get Satan himself to speak on her behalf.

“Yes, of course, and why would she bring such a topic to your attention? Did she not take the time to inform you of the extreme risks associated with the practice? The high fatality rate for improper execution…”

“Yes, she did. It was mentioned in passing that should I want to attend a school that was far from Greendale it could serve as means for transportation so I wouldn’t have to leave my family and mortal-life behind. She’d mentioned my father had some writings on the practice…”

“I can confirm that he does. What is this about not leaving your mortal life behind? Haven’t you chosen to follow the Path of Night?”

“Well, partially. The arrangement I’d had worked out with Father Blackwood and the Dark Lord was made before my friends betrayed me. But it allowed me to attend Baxter High and the Academy concurrently without having to sign my name in the book. But with the Greendale Thirteen attacking the town, Mrs. Wardwell explained I’d have to sign my name in order to reveal my true powers to defeat them. That’s how I was able to summon hellfire to defeat them,” Sabrina explains plainly.

“Surely you’re aware that’s not how it works. You can’t just summon hellfire by signing your name in the Dark Lord’s book. Which including yourself, only four witches have ever been able to do,” Nick says in disbelief.

“Well, it happened. I had already seen it happen before then, when I ate a malum malus. Besides, Mrs. Wardwell was able to guide me and help me understand why things were happening...”

“Tell me Sabrina, why are you still fighting it? You’ve signed your name in his book, isn’t it exhausting to maintain two natures? Imagine how much you could achieve, should you fully devote yourself to following the path of night. You seemed quite taken with the service last night...” he questions, his demeanor becoming impatient.

“I’m not sure why I’m still doing it. Coming here to the Institute, as a full time student, is obviously going to put more distance between me and my mortal friends. But with the break-up and my friends hurting me the way they did, I can’t seem to come up with excuses anymore.”

“Sabrina, out of curiosity, what is this Mrs. Wardwell’s full name? It’s hardly appropriate for any witch to recommend the practice of physical apparition to someone as young as you, let alone a witch without allegiance to a coven.. ” He asks, massaging his temples, clearly agitated by this Mrs. Wardwell’s unfounded suggestions. Especially, mentioning it to someone as steadfast and ambitious as Sabrina.

“It’s Mary Wardwell, she did stress the importance of extensive research, _and_ that I’d need a highly experienced mentor to learn.”

“It’s the only way Sabrina. It’s not a topic that can be self-taught. I learned from your father before his abrupt passing. I transcribed some of his teachings into additional references for his journal entries on the topic,” Nick admits.

“Would you be willing to teach me Nick” Sabrina asks hopefully, looking at him with wide eyes and a soft, hopeful expression.

“Sabrina...”

“Please? I don’t need an answer now, just consider it?” She asks, and the dejected expression on her face, breaks his heart.

He can tell that she just wants to get closer to her father. Reading through his journals must’ve sparked something in her, and learning from someone who was a personal acquaintance of his, would immerse her in the legacy her father left behind.

“I’ll see you at Black Mass tonight,” he says before walking her out.

* * *

 As he sat in his office, something that Sabrina mentioned earlier was bothering him immensely. Nick hadn’t heard of the Church of Shadows before, and all research he’d been attempting for the past hour seemed futile. For a woman who could directly speak with the Dark Lord on the matter of a young witch, he’d also failed to find anything on Mary Wardwell relating to the witching world.  Just that such mortal was a town historian for Greendale.

As High Priest of his own coven, he was familiar with almost every existing coven in the continental U.S., not even counting the many overseas as in Europe and Latin America as well.

_Perhaps it was a denomination that didn’t follow the Anti-Pope’s convictions?_

He couldn’t help but consider that Sabrina Spellman is apart of something much bigger, what that is however, is a mystery.

* * *

Sabrina had chosen to take the bus home for the weekend, and her aunties couldn’t have been anymore thrilled with her arrival. Everyone in the Spellman household was desperate to press her for as much information as they could about the Institute, the coven, and that devilishly handsome Headmaster of hers.

Once the initial grilling of Sabrina Spellman had ended, she decided to take a walk through town. Maybe find Mrs. Wardwell and speak of her experience at the Black Mass services she had attended.

Meanwhile, Sabrina wasn’t the only witch to visit Greendale that weekend. No one other than Nicholas Scratch had come to pay a visit to some old acquaintances and find out more information on this Mary Wardwell.

Having visited the Academy and grabbed drinks with Faustus at Dorian’s Gray Room as a courtesy. Nick now had information as to where the woman slept and worked.

He had made his way to her modest house across the town and knocked on the door. While he wasn’t exactly sure as to whether he’d answer, he didn’t expect that once she did, he would see Sabrina sitting the living room behind her.

This complicated things, he needed this woman alone. There was no way he could interrogate her the way he had planned with Sabrina watching the whole thing.

“Are you Mary Wardwell?”

“One of my many titles,” she says in an alluring tone, pleased with the physique of the warlock in front of her.  
  
“My name is Nicholas Scratch, High Priest of the Church of Lucifer, and Headmaster of the Institute for the Divine Craft,” he explains before she rolls her eyes.

“I know who you are,” she says walking deeper into her how while beckoning him to follow.

“Sabrina, look at who has paid me a visit,” Mrs. Wardwell says in a languid way.

“Father Scratch, what brings you to Greendale?” She asks, looking between the two of them.

“I came to return some texts I had on loan from the Academy, and speak with Mary,” Nicholas explains. Judging by the tension in the room, it seems that Sabrina and Mrs. Wardwell were in the midst of a pretty serious conversation before he had knocked.

So he excuses himself, “I’m just going to come back later.”

* * *

The second she thinks about telling Mrs. Wardwell about him, he’s there standing at the door frame, looking in to the living room.

Things didn’t go as she had planned. She was going to talk about how transformative and radical that the Black Mass was, but how she wasn’t sure whether that was due to the content, or just the magnetism of the warlock running the show.

Now that he’s in Greendale though, and bound to speak with Mrs. Wardwell at some point given that he’d shown up to her house, kept her from admitting her true feelings, instead staying to simpler topics like her coursework and the girls she’d made the acquaintance of.

After an hour or so of superficial small talk, Sabrina leaves and heads into town, straight towards Dr. Cee’s. Until she sees a familiar red pickup truck park outside of the building. Harvey gets out of the car and Sabrina stops dead in her tracks, hoping she can stay unnoticed.

As cruel fate would have it, _he notices._

“Sabrina,” he calls out. Despite the time that’s passed, she still feels a sharp pang in her heart. He starts to walk towards her and she stays put.

“Harvey,” she acknowledges with a nod.

“Mrs. Wardwell had told us you left… What are you doing in Greendale?”

“It’s my _home,_ ” she replies scrunching her eyebrows in disbelief that he would have the audacity to ask such a stupid question, Implying that she’s invading his space by somehow being here.

“My school’s only in the city, I’m still going to come home for weekends. So if you want to avoid crossing paths, you might just want to stay home on Saturday’s and Sunday’s,” she adds.

“I haven’t been avoiding you ‘Brina,” Harvey says, playing the defensive. When his usage of her old nickname sets off something in her.

“You don’t get to call me that anymore, _Harvey_. You should really get going, Roz is probably waiting for you...”

“It’s not like that Sabrina, we’re ju-”

" _Just friends_? Theo told me everything he’d seen between you two, even if you’re just friends now, it’s going to be something eventually… and I couldn’t stick around to watch,” Sabrina says softly.

“Wait, so you’re telling me the reason you left Baxter High is because of me and Roz?”

“As selfish as it may be, I can’t watch you be happy with someone else like that. Even a complete stranger would hurt to see, but with Roz? How do you expect me to stay after hearing something like that? Then you’re ignoring Theo, which regardless of whether it’s deliberately or inadvertently, is just a really shitty thing to do. I couldn’t stick around to watch our friend group fall apart, and I certainly wasn’t going to stay to see you fall in love with someone else….” she says, her voice growing shaky with each sentence. Tears threatening to fall, she pivots and runs in the opposite direction.

“‘Brina, wait!” He yells after her

“I’m going home!”

He breaks out into a sprint and chases after her. Catching up and wrapping his arms around her from behind in a desperate attempt to finish talking.

“Let go of me!” she yells, her voice full of hurt. He does let go, but turns around so he’s facing her.

“I love you Sabrina, I still love you...” He says, calm but broken.

“Then why didn’t you try harder to get back together?”

“Because I needed _time._ Every single time I would think about you, no matter what it was, it always ended with Tommy…”

“Harvey...” she says softly, cupping his face in her hand.

“Listen… Now I’ve waited, months have gone by… and I still can’t get you out of my head. I miss holding you, and our stupid movie nights. I love you Sabrina Spellman.” his lips meet hers, and both of them, if only for a moment, remember how amazing they fit together.

More tears fall from Sabrina, “I love you Harvey... but I can’t do this. I’m not going to put you in harms way, and I’m not coming back to Baxter High… I love you Harvey Kinkle, but I have to let you go,” she confesses, and by the end of it she’s sobbing. Before running away and finding herself at the Baxter High bleachers, crying her eyes out.

So consumed by her own emotion, she doesn’t flinch when someone sits down beside her and wraps an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

“Sabrina, what’s wrong?”

“Nicholas! What are you doing here? Please, go...” she says pathetically and admittedly a little disingenuous.

“I saw what happened,” he says softly.  “You really love him, don't you?”

Sabrina nods her head fiercely, “More than anything...”

“That's the one thing I envy about mortals. The way they can give themselves to each other.”

“You’re saying that you’re incapable of monogamy?” Sabrina questions, even if the conversation at hand is inappropriate to be having, at least it’s stopped the sobbing, if only for a moment.

“Witches are aces at passion and lust, but when it comes to true love? not so much,” Nick admits and stares away, a vacant look on his face.

“Why do you think that is?”

“Our Dark Lord is a jealous lord. He wants us to love him and only him. Selfish, isn't it?”

“Yeah, but it would be easier in some ways,” Sabrina reasons, it’s highly unlikely that the Dark Lord would rip your heart to pieces.

“I'd give up anything for half of what you and the mortal have,” he confesses.

“Had,” she corrects.

“You'll pull through this, Sabrina, and if you need a shoulder to cry on,” he assures her, gesturing to his own shoulder.

“Let me give you a ride back to your house, _please_ ,” admittedly a little hesitant, she weighs her options. Is is worth it to walk home crying and possibly run into someone else she doesn’t want to see, or should she take him up on the offer and let him drive her home?

“Okay,” she says softly, and he helps her up. An arm still loosely wrapped around her for comfort. She can’t deny that she likes the way it feels in his arms, no matter how she got to be there. They walk and he guides her into the passenger seat of a black 1958 Chevy Impala. Opening and closing the door for her.

Not that she’s keen to what the car even is, she speaks up in an attempt to abandon the sadness that consumed her just moments prior, “Your car is really nice...”

“Thanks, I fixed it up myself,” he replies, starting the car and beginning to drive.

“With or without magic?” she asks, partially teasing, partially curious.

“Without, I like to think I’m pretty good with my hands. It certainly would’ve been easier the other way but it was a way to occupy my time for a while. Admittedly, there was a little magic involved in the paint on the exterior.”.

“I find it hard to believe that your schedule isn’t filled to the brim, given your roles at the Institute and within the church,” she quips, curious as to his response.

“While busy, I still manage to have downtime. Though, I fixed this car about sixteen years ago,” he says, an slight expression of discomfort making its way onto his face at the thought..

She opens her mouth to say something but nothing comes out. She’s still processing what he’d just said. She hadn’t even once considered how Nick must’ve dealt with her father’s death. However, now she’s learned that this car was how he coped with the death of her father.

She wants to touch his face, and get rid of the hurt that’s there. Instead she places her hand on his knee, rubbing it as a sympathetic gesture.

There she was, sobbing not even ten minutes ago, and now the tables have already turned. She’s comforting _him_ now.

“I’m going to need directions Spellman,” he says, breaking whatever emotional funk had filled the air between the two of them.

 _“Of course. So you’re going to make a left up at the traffic light and…..”_ she continues, providing directions to the mortuary.

Once they’re there, Sabrina fully intends to allow Nick to just drop her off; but as luck would have it, Zelda is out on the front porch with her coffee and a cigarette.

“Father Scratch, are you joining us for dinner?”

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable being an imposition Zelda,” he replies with a good natured smile that implies he only requires a slight push to agree.

“Nonsense, Hilda has made enough food to feed the entire coven for a week,” She says, standing up. Walking past them but stopping in her tracks when she takes notice of Sabrina’s red puffy eyes.

“I’m fine,” Sabrina whispers, clearly displeased with her display of weakness.

Once they enter the home, all attention is on the unfamiliar warlock. Ambrose Spellman eagerly stands up to introduce himself.

“I presume you’re High Priest Scratch?” he asks, looking him up and down hungrily.

 _My, my. Sabrina was not exaggerating with her description of him,_ he thinks.

“That is correct, and you’re Ambrose?” he replies and guesses based on what Zelda had mentioned to him, day’s prior.

“Yes, Father,” Ambrose replies, taken with the warlock in front of him.

“Do you think we could sit down and speak for a moment after dinner?” Ambrose questions.

“Certainly.”

At that Zelda herds everyone to the dining room.

“May I offer you a beverage Father?”

“Gin and Tonic?” He asks tentatively, wanting to make sure they have the spirit.

Zelda comes in moments later setting a glass in front of him.

“Thank you,” Nick says appreciatively, taking the class in his hand.

“What brings you to Greendale Father?” Zelda asks, taking charge of the conversation.

“I had some things to take care of at the Academy,” he replies, taking a sip of his drink.

“With Father Blackwood?”

“Something along those lines...” he says vaguely, sounding exasperated at the very thought of the man.

Sabrina smirks slightly, she’d definitely need a drink after talking with Father Blackwood as well.

“I presume all is well then? I haven’t got a chance to speak with him since Sabrina’s departure from the Academy. Black Mass is especially tense with him these days, always seems as if he’s on edge,” Zelda notes, pursing her lips.”

“Faustus is in fine shape, nothing to worry about there. I am however slightly concerned with the regressive policies he’s hoping to implement in the coming months… Edward had made so much progress in the Church of Night and it seems as if Father Blackwood is single-handedly attempting to reverse every change Edward had made...” Nick says, taking an unusually large gulp of his drink.

He stands up, making a beeline towards the bar cart to refill his glass, this time without any tonic to dilute the liquor, then returning to the table, half of what he’d just poured himself already gone.

Sabrina shoots a concerned look to each of her aunties, but neither feels they should intervene.

From there, the subject matter turns surprisingly light. With Ambrose speaking of an article he’d read detailing some advancements made in medicinal herbalism. Hilda talking about some rascal kids who’d stormed Dr. Cee’s earlier in the day, among other amusing anecdotes.

Nick and Sabrina sit in silent agreement to not speak of what happened between she and Harvey earlier.

“Sabrina, you’re unusually quiet...” Ambrose remarks.

She shoots him a glare, “Sorry, I feel like I’m somewhere else.”

“Bored of us already, Love?” Hilda teases in jest.

“Please, I’m sure she’s just thinking of more important matters, I trust Father Scratch has kept you occupied at the Institute,” Zelda says, dismissing Hilda.

Once dinner is over, Ambrose and Nicholas filter off into the living room. Nursing after dinner drinks as they talk.

“I sat down with Father Blackwood and attempted to see if there was a way of getting my sentence commuted,” Ambrose begins.

“Ah, yes. Your plot to blow up the Vatican has put you in this unfortunate house-arrest situation...” Nick says recalling what he’d heard from others.

“Regardless, I wanted to see if there’s some sort of way to appeal and try for a lesser sentence, though he seemed cold and unwilling to help,”

“Well Ambrose _Spellman,_ lucky for you, I’m taking quite a liking to your family,” he says, briefly glancing at Sabrina who’s cleaning with Hilda.

“I also have a favor to pull with the Anti-Pope, I’ll see what I can do about obtaining a lesser sentence for you,” Nick says, finishing off the whiskey in his glass, clearly somewhat more inebriated that he should be if he’d intended to drive somewhere else.

“Father Scratch, I can’t express how grateful I am, even if just for your attempt at helping me.”

“It’s not an _attempt._ I’ll be able to get something done, I’m sure of it,” he says, then attempting to stand when he stumbles, causing Sabrina to rush over and help balance him.

“Thanks, Spellman,” he say with a cheeky inflection in his voice.

Zelda and Hilda witness the scene like wallflowers. Hilda speaking up to voice her concern, “He may be a High Priest but he’s clearly still a young, lost, warlock on the inside.”

“What agency do you hold that gives you the right to speak of him in that way Zelda, For Satan’s will, you’re still excommunicated...”

“Ambrose, help me get him up to my room. He needs to sleep this off,” Sabrina says.

The two of them managing to stabilize him enough to move him up the stairs.

Setting him down on Sabrina’s bed, Nick is clearly out of it, Ambrose looks between the two of them, “Should I stay?”

“I’ve got this,” Sabrina dismisses, waving him off.

“Actually do you have any sweats he could use, I don’t think sleeping in a blazer is the most comfortable thing?” She asks quietly, Ambrose returning with sweatpants and a t-shirt a few moments later.

She thanks him and sets the clothes on the edge of the bed. Running down to the kitchen to prepare a hangover tonic for him. She heads back up to the room, glass in hand, and nearly drops it when she sees that Nick has stripped down to his underwear. Quickly turning around and walking in the other direction, “Sabrina?”

She takes a deep breath and turns around, going back to her room, thankfully he has the clothes on now. Though the shirt is too tight, so she averts her gaze, not wanting him to think she’s staring or something.

Pinching the bridge of his nose he looks up at her, “I’m really going to regret this in the morning, aren’t I?”

“Drink this,” she says, placing the herbal remedy on the night-stand. “It’ll lessen whatever is to come, and I’ll have aunt Hilda make you something for the morning. Her concoctions are much better than anything I could whip up,” She admits with a soft smile.

From his spot on the bed, he reaches over and grabs her wrist, “Thank you Sabrina.”


	5. The Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the Kink Begin
> 
> Side Note: I made some Pinterest boards for this story. Feel free to check them out, or not. I like using them as worldbuilding things / visual aid when I write so I figured I'd share them.
> 
> Places: (https://www.pinterest.com/rayotap/institute-for-the-divine-craft/)
> 
> Faces: (https://www.pinterest.com/rayotap/faces-idc/)

In the morning, Sabrina sneaks in and places the remedy Aunt Hilda made on the bedside table. Unable to stop herself from starting at his almost-Godly physique. At some point in the night, he’d decided it’d been too hot and removed the shirt, rolling out of the covers, so now his back and arm muscles were prominently on display.

She felt tempted to run her fingers along his shoulder muscles and biceps, but obviously decided against acting on the impulse.

When Nick finally comes downstairs, it’s half past noon. Zelda not-so-innocently questions about the Black Mass last night and whether someone was able to fill in for him. Then a look of terror appears on his face, expletives falling from his lips freely. He frantically starts looking around for anything he may have brought with him and unceremoniously races out the door without as much as a thank you.

“Well that was _rude_ ,” Sabrina says, honestly a bit pissed off that he just stormed off.

* * *

Nick honestly felt bad for storming off the way he did, making a note to send the Spellmans some flowers once he was back at the Institute.

Despite his rushed morning he was still able to corner Mary Wardwell and have a conversations with her. Their talk had clarified a few things for him. Though he has an inkling that he may not be getting the entire story. Up until recently, Nick had rarely heard of instances where the Dark Lord calling upon you would lead to near-total supervision of another witch.

That is, until he called on him. Moments after Sabrina had left his office, the Dark Lord spoke to him. Commanding him to get close to Sabrina.

He thinks back to what Mary had said, _“The Dark Lord has tasked me with making sure that Sabrina fully commit to following the Path of Night, and ensuring her a spot in your fine Institution was something that needed to occur in order to keep her on it.”_

He considers what the Dark Lord’s intentions are with having him get close to Sabrina, does he want him to serve as a mentor? Or is he to take her hand in Unholy Matrimony one day? The issue with the Dark Lords request extends beyond its ambiguity. He knows he could see himself with Sabrina in a myriad of roles, but the one he desired was perhaps the most could have disastrous consequences on his soul should he misinterpret Satan’s intent.

* * *

Following his visit to Mary Wardwell, Nick heads back to the Spellman household. A magnificent bouquet in hand from the Greendale Florist. He knocks on the door, and Zelda answers, “Nicholas.”

He holds the bouquet out to her, “I wanted to apologize for my abrupt departure this morning. I didn’t have the chance to properly thank you and your family for the warm hospitality you showed me.”

“You need not apologize Father Scratch, but these flowers are lovely” Zelda says, taking the bouquet and walking into the house to find a vase, inviting Nick in.

“I was also wondering if Sabrina needed a ride back to the Institute, I’m leaving right about now and figured I would extend the offer,”

“Oh Praise Satan, I’d prefer hellfire to city traffic. You may take her, I believe she’s up in her room. I can get her if you’d like,” she offers.

“I’ll speak with her,” he says, walking past her and up the staircase to Sabrina’s room, knocking lightly.

“Come in,” Sabrina yells over some music, shutting it off when she sees him.

“Nick, what are you doing here?” She asks, clearly surprised to see him.

“I’m giving you a ride back to the institute, are you packed?” he asks, taking the opportunity to get a good look at her room.

“Yes, but my aunties were going to drive me in.”

“Yes, _but_ Zelda was more than happy to pass the job to me, something about the traffic...”

“When are we leaving?”

“Now. It’s imperative that I be there early for Black Mass given my unexpected absence last night,” he says with raised eyebrows.

“Nick, what was that last night?” Sabrina asks out of genuine concern.

“I got some rather disappointing information about a close friend of mine,” Nick says, trailing off.

“If you need anyone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on, I’m here,” she quips, referencing the line he’d given her yesterday. It feels like her public fight with Harvey happened weeks ago, despite it only having been a day.

Nicholas shakes his head, “my offer stands as well.”

He’s been mourning again, despite having done it sixteen years ago. After his visit to the Academy and Dorian’s Gray Room, a minimal amount of inquiry confirmed his suspicions. Father Blackwood had murdered Edward and Diana Spellman, casting the spell that brought down their plane.

This wasn’t just information that he could share with Sabrina though, as he knew she’d be enraged by it and probably attempt retaliation.

If he was going to avenge Edward’s death in anyway, it’d have to be a methodically calculated and organized mission. An irrefutable collection of evidence and testimony to be presented to the council and anti-pope, calling for the immediate and swift demise of Faustus Blackwood.

* * *

The ride back to the institute was an easy two hour drive, but the whole ride back, he was considering what Sabrina proposed earlier in the week with physical apparition. Yes, it was dangerous, but given what he’d seen from her so far, there was no doubt in his mind that she’s capable of doing it.

Walking down the gravel path through central park towards the Institute, Nick breaks the peaceful silence.

“I have an answer for you,” Nick begins, immediately grabbing her attention.

“Oh?” she says, caught off guard. Trying to think about what he means, but he quickly addresses it.

“I’m going to teach you physical apparition. I understand your need for it, and I’m willing to mentor you. In fact, not even just on physical apparition, I’ll aid you in learning any skill you desire. Transfiguration, Levitation, Scrying, Advanced methods of Warding, cloaking, banishment.”

“What about Necromancy?”

“Yes, but that’s _hush, hush_ ”

“Nick, I can’t believe you’d do this for me,” Sabrina says, a beaming smile overtaking her features. She wraps her arms around him in a hug before jumping off quickly.

“Sorry that wasn’t appropriate,” she says, wide-eyed and apologetic.

“Just not in front of the other students, can’t have anyone think I’m playing favorites,” Nick says in jest, a smile overtaking his features as well.

Sabrina stares at him, joyously happy at what he’d just offered her. She finds herself invested in him, not being able to take her eyes away. He has such a genuine smile, large enough that his eyes crinkle around the corners, and the way it makes her feel has her stomach doing backflips.

“I’m your favorite?” She teases.

“Definitely, Spellman,” he says without hesitation, causing Sabrina to stand a little taller.

Even though he’s known his own feelings for a few days now, he can’t help but think that Sabrina may reciprocate them, he’s been noticing things that allude to her liking him. It’s there in the way she stares at him, for a little too long than she probably should; and how she exposes her neck to him, or plays with her hair when she’s nervous about something she said.

It’s as if the Dark Lord packaged all of Edward Spellman’s most magnificent qualities, added a little more rebellion, and sent them to Nick, in the form of a breathtakingly gorgeous young witch.

_If the Dark Lord wanted him to get closer to her, then so be it._

* * *

At the Black Mass, it’s much like the first two that Sabrina attended. Though Nick’s sermon for tonight is centered around how when the Dark Lord calls, we must answer with enthusiasm and reverence for Satan.

“The moment we chose to sign our names in the Book of the Beast, we chose to be forever bound in servitude to the Dark Lord. Many choose not to speak of their experiences, viewing the tasks he asks us to do as the most tangible example of our profane covenant with the Dark Lord.”

“Much of the time, we aren’t doing his bidding, rather he is testing us, to ensure he still has our devotion. I’m sure many of you have been told to complete inane tasks from time to time, I’m also sure that many of you have received more meaningful requests, ones that could bring about significant consequences should things go awry,” he states, and the entire room seems to express their feelings, agreeing with what he’s saying.

“As a young Warlock at the Academy of Unseen Arts, the Dark Lord called on me, to steal a plaque from the Headmaster’s office. Now should I get caught, the consequence would obviously be expulsion. So I initially resisted, not wanting to risk losing my spot in the Academy. A few days after the Dark Lord had first come to me, I woke up to excruciating pain searing through my chest. Feeling like my body had been ripped in half and set aflame, I look in the mirror to find a gargantuan bloody claw mark spanning the length of my torso,” there are a few gasps throughout the church, some witches never having heard of such a thing.

“When you sign your name in the Dark Lord’s book, there’s a Devil’s Claw on your soul, with my defiance, the Dark Lord placed his Claw Marks on me, a physical manifestation of his hold over my soul. He was reminding me, not to stray from the Path of Night. I ended up studying molecular transference for days, until I was confident that I could get the plaque out of the Headmaster’s office without having to go inside. Once the task was done, the Devil’s Claw on my body was gone, and that plaque hangs in my study. A constant reminder of the Dark Lord’s hold on my soul”

“Having said that,, rise Children of Lucifer and come forward to take your unholy communion. Desecrate the Eucharist to denounce the false God and all that is represented through it.”

This time, Sabrina has the rital down, and is able to go through the motions like everyone else. Desecrating the metaphorical host of Christ, by crushing the wafer.

 _“ego vos benedico,_ I am blessed to be a follower of Lucifer Morningstar. Our Dark Lord has given us immense power in return for our eternal servitude, we must serve him well. _Rege Satanas,_ Satan is King.”   
  
“ _Ave Satanas,_ Hail Satan.”

Sabrina hangs back with the others who attend Father Scratch’s Midnight Black Mass at the Satanic Cathedral.

“Sabrina, are you joining us tonight?” asks Tobias Scott, one of Nick’s student assistants along with Tabitha, and a few other warlocks she has yet to meet.

“I am. I’ve never been to a Satanic Cathedral before, figured now was a perfect time to visit,” she explains, and Tobias raises an eyebrow.

“Well you’re in for a treat Sabrina Spellman,” he says.

“Do I dare ask?”

Another one of the more devout students interjects, “Tonight is when Father Scratch offers satanic confession.”

“It’s similar to the false God’s Sacrament of Penance, though you may absolve yourself of your wrongdoings through flagellation,” another student, _who Sabrina thinks is named Sophia,_  interjects with a suggestive expression.

“And you _enjoy_ it?” Sabrina questions in disbelief.

“It’s completely voluntary, but yes, I’ve still never felt a release as incredible as my first Satanic Confessi-”

Tobias interrupts with an eyeroll, “You can stop detailing your first time Sophia… We were actually going to have some drinks before heading over to the Cathedral. You should join us Sabrina,” Tobias suggests.

“I’d love to, but I’m not twenty one yet, I don’t think they’ll serve me,” she replies.

“I’d serve you...” another student says with a wink, “I’m Endicott Delacroix. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to introduce myself to you.”

“Is that so?” She asks skeptically, suspecting that this is just another playboy warlock viewing her half-witch nature as some bucket-list item.

“I find you enchanting, I’m in your demonology lecture, I like how you’re not afraid to challenge Professor Kraft on his more dubious ramblings,” he admits.

“So that’s where I recognize you from,” Sabrina states, waiting for another slick pick-up of his.

“Well, if you’d two could stop flirting for a moment, we need to get going. Eliphas is holding a table for us and I want to stay in his good graces,” Tobias states plainly. They all head out of the church and end up walking down an extraordinarily long hallway.

“I didn’t know the institute had multiple exits,” Sabrina comments.

“Well, you’ve only been here for a week now so it’s understandable,” Sophia says, rubbing Sabrina’s arm as a kind gesture.

“This is the easiest way to get to the Cathedral from the Institute, obviously you can take the above ground route if you want to do some mortal watching, but this part of the city isn’t very entertaining for that,” Tobias explains

“Ah yes, the Upper West Side is so drab, I do the majority of my mortal-watching in Brooklyn, there are some very interesting characters there...”

Once they reach the end of the tunnel, letting them out in the Satanic Cathedral, they walk an additional four blocks to reach their destination. A nondescript black door that opens as soon as they walk up to it.

Endicott nudges Sabrina, “That door isn’t visible to mortals…”

“Huh,” she replies, trailing everyone else into the venue.

The inside is decorated in the lavish French Baroque style, looking like a room straight from Versailles.

They go over to a ornate sofa, taking their seats while Tobias chats up an older gentleman, most likely the owner.

“Eliphas, I’d like to introduce you to Sabrina Spellman. She’s a new student at the Institute. Sabrina, this is Éliphas Lévi, infamous warlock and proprietor of this fine establishment,” Tobias says, introducing them.

“Welcome to le Salon du Magique, mademoiselle Spellman. Always a delight to meet young witches,” Eliphas says, taking her hand and kidding the top of it.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t mean that in a creepy way. He’s stuck in the seventeenth century, per the decor,” Sophia says in a hushed tone.

“It’s a pleasure to be here, the decor est très magnifique.”

“Merci beaucoup, what would you care to drink?”

“I’m not too sure,” Sabrina admits, revealing her limited experience with alcohol.

“Two cosmopolitans, s’il vous plaît,” Sophia says, speaking up for her.

He takes the rest of the groups drink orders and the drinks apparate in front of them as they’re finished. Sabrina takes a sip of her pink cocktail, which isn’t the worst thing in the world. So she has three more.

“So you’ve been hanging out with Tabitha and Company?”  Sophia asks, wanting to get to know Sabrina’s true personality better.

“Yes, Tabitha was the first person I met at the Institute, and Father Scratch has told her to show me around, help me understand how things are done in the Church of Lucifer,” Sabrina says with a giggle.

“So, you’re hanging out with them because of convenience, am I correct?”

“Well, not exactly. They’re really nice to me… Even though I’m only a half-witch…. Tabitha reminds me of this girl from the Academy, her name was Prudence, and she tried to kill me… anyways… Tabitha is Prudence, but much kinder.”

“I’ve heard the last girl who crossed them was murdered for a necromantic rite,” Endicott interjects, revealing himself as a warlock who likes to stir the pot.

“Hush, Endi. Now just, be cautious. While Father Scratch tries to promote an accepting and productive environment at the Institute, you can’t change centuries of traditions in just a few years. The Institute can be cutthroat at times…. Don’t make yourself too much of a target,” Sophia warns, and Sabrina is having too much fun to take her seriously.

“Okay, I’ll be _cautious_ ,” she says mockingly.

Once it’s quarter til, they leave and head for the cathedral. While Tobias holds his alcohol well, everyone else in the group is noticeably drunk, so he takes it upon himself to be the shepherd of these drunken little sheep. Stopping Sabrina from stepping in front of a car multiple times on their way to the church.

Nicholas stands at the front of the Cathedral while the Lambs of Satan light various candles throughout the church. He’s adjusting his regalia, the priestly uniform required for cathedral services being much more ornate than it is for the Church of Lucifer. The gilded breastplate being a somewhat finicky garment, given that the other High Priests don’t have the same build as he.

His attention is caught when he hears laughing coming from the cathedral entrance, an unusual sound to hear in the Satanic Cathedral. His gaze darts to the noise when he hears a familiar laugh, Sabrina. His heart almost skips a beat seeing her here.

Upon seeing her, Nick gets a rare jolt of nerves. Instead of letting it get the best of him, he practices his reading from the prepared literature and attempts to hype himself up. He hasn’t even began and yet he’s anxious for what Sabrina will think of it. The services at the Cathedral are much more ritualistic and traditional than what is done back at the Institute. The entire service being almost completely in Latin, while the crowd is almost ten times the size of what gathers at the Institute.

He manages to calm himself enough so that once the clock strikes twelve he confident begins the sermon.

Sabrina’s lost throughout the majority of the service. Chastising herself for not focusing on Latin during her time at the Academy. Suddenly she gets an idea, too good to keep to herself, “I should drink a polyglot potion next time!” She exclaims, thankfully the church is enormous so it doesn’t detract too much from the service, however it does get her scowls from the witches around her.

Despite her thinking that no one really noticed, the most important person in the room did. While it didn’t interrupt the service at all, he cracked a small smile, while not the most appropriate thing, he found himself was amused by her antics.

The lengthy service brought itself to an end. Even in her drunken state Sabrina couldn’t help but notice how the people around her _revered_ Nick.

Maybe it’s due to the fact she still has a mortal life, but she can’t quite seem to grasp how much power Nick really has. When she really considers it though, it’s shocking that their interactions are so _normal._ If he were to suggest a mass suicide at some point during a service, she’s sure there’d be quite a few who would blindly follow him.

“I’m going to _confession_ ,” Sophia says, with a taunting wiggle of her brows. The alcohol obviously still lingering in her system.

At that moment, Sabrina decides that she’ll go to confession as well. Unfamiliar with the proceedings, Sabrina just trails Sophia, until they’ve joined a few others waiting outside a solid black door with a satanic cross on the front and a pentagram with the head of Baphomet in the center.

Half an hour passes until it’s time for Sophia to go in the office, Sabrina being the last one to wait. Once Sophia comes out, her cheeks are flushed and there's an odd expression on her face.

“I’ll see you back at the Institute, Sabrina,” Sophia says in a somber tone, a morose expression on her facial features.

Sabrina does as she saw the others do, forgoing knocking and just entering the room. She trips over her feet slightly, not expecting the friction caused by the rug on the ground.

Nick is shocked when he sees her enter the Chambers of Infernal Confession.

He stands in the middle of the room, and does as he would with any other disciple.

“Come here,” he says, beckoning her to him. She makes her way over to him, and he takes the liberty of explaining things more than he would normally.

“Kneel,” he commands; she does as ordered. His authoritative tone making her senses stand on edge.

“Give me your hand so I may draw for blood atonement,” he says and she nervously extends her hand to him.

He takes the blade and draws a small cut from her palm, holding it upwards until blood pools.

“Now you are to beg forgiveness from the Dark Lord. Repeat after me. _Tenebris Dominus: In hoc sanguinem, peto nos misericordiae tuae.”_

 _“Tenebris Dominus: In hoc sanguinem, peto nos misericordiae tuae,”_ Sabrina repeats, looking up at him. Her hand still stinging from the cut, though less than she’d expect thanks to the alcohol in her system.

With that, Nick takes his thumb and uses it to paint Sabrina’s forehead with her own blood, in an upside-down cross.

“Pray tell Sabrina, what brings you to confession?”

“My new acquaintances have too much control over me. I’m doing things I wouldn’t typically allow, in hopes of being accepted… Tonight I drank for the first time, and while it didn’t taste very good… I feel _great_...” She admits, with a sheepish smile.

“Child of Lucifer, while a fundamental tenet of the church is exercising personal sovereignty in our lives. I’m not sure I’d consider such a customary indulgence to be worthy of confession,” he replies seriously, fighting the urge to chuckle at Sabrina’s current state. His soft spot for her is coming through. Having just dismissed the previous girl for wasting his time, even going as far to asking her _you believe this is worth the Dark Lord’s time?_

But looking down at Sabrina, looking so vulnerable and lost; he wants to pick her up. Leave the Cathedral and run off with her, using her intoxicated state to probe her head about how she really feels towards him.

“Father, I need penance. I want to be flagellated,” Sabrina whines, her intoxicated state stripping her of reason and causing her to be impatient.

Nick is genuinely lost for words, when Sabrina breaks the brief silence, “You know... I've never been beaten. Not once. I can't even imagine it, it must be awful...”

Her true nature showing for a few moments, _why did she ask then?_ He wants to question, but thinks better of it. Corporal punishment in the church wasn’t a practice he particularly supported, but it was a mandatory duty associated with the position that he knew of when the anti-pope offered the station. He certainly wasn’t going to reject the opportunity based on that alone.

“I don't believe anyone is ever better for it…” Nick comments, and Sabrina looks up to him in surprise, her expression going soft.

“I've tried hitting myself... To find out how it feels, really, inside. I can’t remember having truly experienced pain, Father. I’ve never been beaten. My entire life, I’ve never felt… anything,” she admits, a tear streaming down her face.

Initially, he can’t quite comprehend why Sabrina is upset about not having been beat. Giving the thought more consideration though, he thinks he might understand. The loss of her parents, feeling unworthy of love, the hurt she brought upon the mortal boy. All of those things weighing on her, causing her to feel like life has been far too kind.

“ _Please,_ Nicholas,” she says. Despite the situation being highly inappropriate, a sick part of him wants to do this. So despite all rational thought telling him to send her out, he agrees.

Grabbing the flogger, he directs her on all fours and strikes her lightly.

“I don’t feel it!” she cries.

“Maybe not, with your dress on,” he states, she looks to him and hikes her skirt, offering Nick the prospect of her somewhat more exposed backside.

“On my thighs then,” she suggests.

“Sabrina!” he protests slightly.

“Come on, _please,_ ” she begs.

“I’ll teach you to say please...” he strikes her once more.

Sabrina winces from the pain, but needs _more._

“You’re barely stroking me,” she snaps, tauntingly. Prompting him to flog her again.

She lets out soft whimpers of pain, and Nick continues until she can’t take it anymore.

He stops and re-positions her to kneel before him, wiping the blood off her forehead with milk-soaked wool cloth. He holds out a hand, helping her to a standing position.

She looks at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. Emotionally charged from the experience, “Thank you, Nick….” then shaking her head and correcting herself, “... I mean, Thank you Father Scratch.”

After expressing her gratitude, she rushes off before he can get a word in otherwise. Leaving Nick dumbfounded in the chambers, watching her retreating form.

After having experienced her first confession, thinking about what Sophia had said about her first time. Sabrina _gets it._ She’s never had every nerve in her body seem to stand on edge, she feels like something was ignited deep inside of her, whether it was specific to a certain High Priest, she was unsure of.

* * *

Resting in his chambers back at the Institute, Nick finds himself unable to sleep, each time he relaxes enough where he thinks he could possibly sleep, she’s there, afflicting his every thought.

The scene repeating itself over and over. Finding himself aroused at how she allowed herself to be completely vulnerable in front of him. Kneeling before him. Following every command he gave without hesitation. The thought of her completely submitting herself to him, titillating his senses.

The way she begged for him to flog her, causing him to grow hard at the thought. He begins stroking himself, his mind too far gone to consider sleeping anymore. He imagines that it’s Sabrina’s delicate hands touching him, fumbling slightly due to her inexperience.

He considers what it’d be like to kiss her with reckless abandon, to be able to worship every inch of her alabaster skin.

With a few minutes of working himself to the point of climax, he lets go. Sabrina’s name on his lips laced with profanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used a scene from one of my favorite musicals as inspiration for a part of this chapter. If anyone guesses correctly I'll give you a shout out in the next chapter's notes


	6. The Hangover

Sabrina wakes up at eight am, with a searing headache that rips through her entire body. Begrudgingly, she drags herself out of bed. Dead set on a mission to find the herbalism conservatory. She dresses haphazardly, throwing on a random dress, cardigan, and heeled mary janes, before running out of her dorm, a thermos in hand.

Desperate for some type of relief, she finds the conservatory and begins to collect the herbs for a poor man’s hangover remedy. Milk thistle, ginger root, ginseng leaves… One she finds them and grinds them together in a paste, she recites a quick spell to boil the water next to her. Then she pours the boiling water over the herbal concoction, making a slight tea of sorts.

Pouring the tea into her thermos, she leaves the conservatory and wanders the halls. Ending up at the Demonic Texts library, she nurses her drink while reviewing the previous lecture notes from her demonology class.

“Ever the exemplary student Sabrina,” says an unfamiliar voice, causing her eardrums to feel like they’re exploding.

“Endicott, why are you talking so loud? This is a library,” Sabrina reminds him.

“I’m speaking at a perfectly acceptable volume darling, are you sure you’re not just suffering from the festivities last night?”

“If you _must_ know, I do have a hangover. So if you’d just be considerate and stay quiet,” she says with an eye roll, taking another sip of her tea.

“I heard from Sophia that you attended confession, was it all you’d hoped for?”

“I was able to clear my conscious, so I’d say yes,” she says with a straight face, unwilling to divulge the details that he was probably hoping for.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“I was actually just going to class...” Sabrina says, standing up. Wincing slightly from the bruising and soreness coming from her thighs.

“Sabrina we still have half an hour until class...” Endicott says in an attempt to keep her around.

“I know,” she replies, walking away.

* * *

“Welcome back Sabrina,” Tabitha says warmly. Her friendly demeanor doesn’t stop her from appraising the girl as she comes in.

“Tabitha, how was your weekend?” Sabrina asks.

“Fabulous, the girls and I went clubbing downtown. Had fun tormenting some mortal boys,” she says mischievously. Sabrina’s heart sinks for a moment, remembering how she and the Weird Sisters had tormented Billy Marlan and the other Baxter High jocks in the mines, and how much she regrets having done it.

“Nothing too devious I hope,” Sabrina remarks dryly.

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Tabitha says with a pout.

“I heard today’s lecture is in Akkadian, so I prepared enough for two” she says offering Sabrina a swig of her polyglot potion.

“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver,” she says, thanking her. Endicott staring at her, being somewhat obvious with his skepticism of their friendship.

“Pray tell me, why is Endicott Delacroix making eyes at you?” Tabitha asks.

“I went to Black Mass at the Cathedral last night, Tobias invited me out to drinks at this lounge beforehand, then all of his friends were there, Endicott included.”

“He is quite attractive,” Tabitha notes, sending an obvious stare his way.

“And _very_ flirtatious… I’m just not sure about him,” Sabrina admits, her mind off to someone else.

“Well, you could always just use him for pleasure.”

“I’m just not sure I want anything like that. I just got over a bad breakup and need some time,” Sabrina admits.

“Oh right, the mortal boy.”

“How do you know about that?” She asks defensively.

“Don’t be naive Sabrina, I perform divination rituals for every new witch I meet. I need to make sure of their intentions and see that we’ll be compatible...”

“So what else do you know about me?”

“I know of your Aunts, cousin Ambrose, your little mortal friends… and Mrs. Wardwell, I wouldn’t trust that woman as you do, but to each their own... ”

“So how exactly would I go about performing a divination ritual to learn all those things about someone?” Sabrina questions, her thoughts immediately drifting to Nick.

“Oh Sabrina, I don’t think you should. Not that I’m implying you’re _incapable_ , but you’re so good natured…. Would you really be okay with invading someone else’s privacy like that? I only do it because I’m psychotic and I enjoy manipulating people. Once you do it, you'll learn things you wish you could forget,” Tabitha replies with a certain callousness Sabrina isn’t sure she’s capable of.

“I’ll consider that, ” Sabrina replies, thankful that Professor Kraft starts lecturing that that very moment.

* * *

With every step she takes to her conjuring class, her heart rate increases. Attempting to calm herself down with deep breaths, she’s so physically affected that even Tabitha takes note.

“Is everything okay Sabrina?”

“Yeah, I should be fine. Still a little hungover I think...”

“Are you sure, you look nervous… Haven’t you studied for the test?”

“There’s a test?!” Sabrina asks loudly, completely caught off guard.

“Gotcha,” Tabitha says with an amused smirk.

They walk into the classroom and Sabrina slips by, using Tabitha’s body as a cover. Nick’s already at the front, flipping through a book on the podium.

“Today we’ll be covering the practical applications of incantations and binding circles for conjuring demons,” he begins.

Sabrina follows the lecture, furiously taking notes. The time flying by so quickly that she doesn’t realize class is even over until the clearing of a throat catches her attention.

“Want an escort to ritual binding?” Tobias asks, offering her his arm, which she gets up to take.

Nick is staring at the two from the front of the room, feeling slight jealousy at the thought of Sabrina being pursued by someone.

_It’d never work out between them. After having him serve as his assistant for the past two years, Tobias is much too amenable for her. Sabrina needs someone who will challenge her._

“Ms. Spellman, can I speak with you for a minute?” Nick asks, causing Sabrina to let go of Tobias’ arm and approach _him._

 _“Father Scratch,”_ Sabrina says, using his formal title due to the fact Tobias is lingering, waiting on her.

“I have some availability in my schedule this afternoon, if you want to work together on some of the topics we’ve previously discussed,” he mentions, referring to their previous conversations where he agreed to mentor her. Her eyes instantly brighten at his words.

“I’ll be in your office after my ritual binding class?”

“See you then,” he affirms, “well, you should probably get going, your _friend_ has been waiting on you,” he says, causing Sabrina to give him a peculiar glance.

* * *

Sabrina knocks on the door to Nick’s office, “Come in.”

He welcomes her in, having stripped himself of the more formal clothes he wore in lecture. Now currently donning a black turtleneck and leather jacket.

“Sabrina, how are you feeling? Still recovering from last night?” he asks, and she almost gasps, thinking that he’s asking about the confession and the lingering pain that still aches on her thighs. Her cheeks flush a rosy red at the insinuation, causing her to think about last night.

“My first hangover was… Hellish,” Nick says, a teasing smile playing on his lips.

“Oh, I feel better now. Wasn’t too hot in first period but I whipped up my aunt Hilda’s hangover remedy and my head doesn’t feel like it’s splitting in two anymore, which is a positive thing,” she lets out a sigh of relief. Not really wanting to talk about the confession with him, fearing it could open up a door she wouldn’t be able to close.

“So I figured I could provide you with some guided reading on physical apparition, give you a good starting point,” he says rifling through his desk drawer and handing over a book.

“I’ve taken the liberty of including my own notes, annotations throughout the book. I want you to read through it at least twice, then you can come back to me, and we’ll take it from there, sound good Spellman?”

Sabrina nods, already fingering through the pages of the book. Looking up at him, she’s taken aback by how good he looks. On a normal day, he obviously looks handsome; but dressed down like this, he seems more approachable.

“Thank you, Nick,” she says earnestly.

“It’s my pleasure, Sabrina.”

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping, but what do you do when you’re not teaching or serving as High Priest?”

“I’m always serving as High Priest,” he replies with a chuckle.

“I mean, outside of the services, and everything. Like what would you typically be doing now?”

“I’d normally be reading, sometimes there are other things that draw my attention, hiring new staff, overseeing potential students for the following year, event planning for dark holidays, attending infernal court trials.”

“That’s all work, Nick. Do you ever take a break?”

“I’ve devoted my life’s work to the Dark Lord,” Nick says, staring into Sabrina’s eyes with a seriousness that conveys his devotion.

“What about friends? Not to be rude, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone around your age here, Nick. The teachers are all too _old_ and well, the students you’re not really supposed to befriend… At least I don’t think...”

“I have _friends_ Sabrina, many of whom are members of the Church of Lucifer, opting to attend my Mass at the Cathedral rather than attend at the Institute,” Nick states confidently, laughing at her concern. “and I don’t need your help making friends if that’s what you’re worried about. So I guess to elaborate on your previous question as to what I do outside of work hours, I go to clubs, for dancing and drinking. Sometimes the movies if there’s anything remotely of interest. Museums are fun, seeing how mortals beliefs would be turned on their heads if they had any clue of what I alone am capable of… The Met is nice though, I’ve developed an appreciation for art over the years,” he confesses.

Sabrina is fixated on one particular thing he mentioned however, “You like to _dance_ Nick?”

He nods seriously, “what can I say, it makes me feel alive. And after having a few drinks it’s nice to be carefree.”

“Would you take me with you sometime?” Sabrina asks, biting her bottom lip nervously.

“I’m not sure how appropriate that’d be Sabrina...” he says hesitantly.

“You could always tell me where you go, and what times you’d be likely to be there,” she says in a brazen attempt at getting him to take her.

“I’m not sure it’d be safe for me to encourage a young witch to wander alone through the city at night,” Nick says.

“But if you were with me... I wouldn’t be alone, would I?” Sabrina counters.

“Tonight after Black Mass, meet me here and we’ll go,” he submits.

“On a Monday night?”

“Take it or leave it Spellman,” he replies staring at her with an intensity that makes her head spin.

“I’ll take it,” she says, getting up to leave. Throwing a look at him over her shoulder, “Thanks again for the book.”

He watches her saunter out of his office.

_Sabrina Spellman was going to be the end of him._

* * *

“You look nice Sabrina,” Ellie remarks, the first out of Tabitha & Co. to notice her.

She smiles in response, “Thanks, Ellie.”

“What’s the agenda like for this evening Sabrina. Surely you aren’t just dressed up for Black Mass,” Tabitha coos.

“She could be, I’ve dressed up on numerous occasions in hopes that Father Scratch would whisk me off to his office and punish me for distracting him,” Adeline admits.

“I can’t believe you speak of our High Priest like that,” Sabrina snaps, slightly annoyed at the fact other girls have their eyes on Nick.

“Honestly, It’d be a sin not to. The Dark Lord doesn’t create a warlock that _divine_ for the rest of us not to notice him. Besides, as Father Scratch says in his sermon, our incredible Dark Lord, gives us the freedom, to pursue any indulgent thing we desire. It’s just a coincidence that Father Scratch is the indulgent thing _I_ desire,” Adeline says with conviction.

“ _Gross_ ,” Sabrina mutters, wanting to throw them off her trail. The last thing she needs is for them to discover she’s running off with Nick after the service.

“There, there Sabrina, you’ll come into your desires soon enough. Lets not judge each other.”

“Now what are you dressed up for Sabrina, you must tell us,” Tabitha pries.

“I’m meeting up with some mortal friends in the city, we’re going to get ice cream sundaes at Serendipity then see a movie,” Sabrina says, lying through her teeth.

“Oh, that is so _darling._ Isn’t it girls?” Tabitha says.

“Yes, so adorable,” the girls echo.

“I think it’s so sweet you still entertain your mortal pets when you could be having actual fun with your own kind, I know I wouldn’t be that selfless,” Madison says in a sickly-sweet condescending tone that makes Sabrina want to slap her across the face.

She may have lied about what she’s doing, but the excuse she gave was something that she’d actually enjoy doing. It stung a little bit that Madison had assumed she was doing it out of pity.

With that, Nick walked up to the front of the room, beginning the mass. _This was certainly going to be an interesting night._


	7. The Kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song playing in the club scene is the same one that plays during the Lupercalia dance at the Academy in the Show. Also, s/o to @Lynn_of_the_darkness and guest readers Addy and Madeleine for getting the reference to Spring Awakening.

Following the service, Sabrina exited with everyone else. Walking through the hordes of students through the hallways, she ducks into a restroom to freshen up and wait a few minutes before heading to Nick’s office.

She adjusts her headband once more and heads out into the hallway. There aren’t any stragglers left so she’s able to swiftly slip into Nick’s office without raising suspicion.

He’s not there yet, so she waits in his chair. A side door opens and Nick comes in, wearing a black Henley, with the sleeves pushed up his forearms, and black jeans. She’s never seen him in something this casual, and the sight before her is making it hard to form a coherent sentence.

“I hope you haven’t been waiting long, I had to go upstairs and change,” he says sparking her curiosity.

“What’s upstairs?”

“My bedroom,” he replies, then looks up like he’s considering something.

“Well technically it’s more like an apartment, since there’s a bathroom and a kitchen,” he elaborates and Sabrina nods in understanding.

He gives Sabrina a second full body scan, and dammit she looks incredible. The sleeveless sequined black mini-dress hugging her body in all the right places. He considers whether a compliment is appropriate, but unable to deny his lusty nature, decides to abandon protocol tonight because they’re going _dancing_ and when she looks that good, a compliment is necessary.

“You look stunning,” he says genuinely, causing Sabrina to blush. He can’t fight the smile that comes, “I mean seriously... I’m stunned.”

“Oh, well, um, thank you,” Sabrina responds, clearly at a loss for words. She gathers herself and retries that, attempting to be more graceful, ”Thank you very much.”

She smiles at him and he naturally smiles back.

“Shall we?” He asks, taking her arm.

“The door’s over there?” she mentions in slight confusion.

“There are multiple ways in and out of the Institute Sabrina,” he says with a wink.

They end up at a trendy club in SoHo, on the top floor of a hotel.

The club has a line seeming to be a hundred people deep, “Nick we don’t have to go here, I don’t want to just wait around.”

“You have so little faith in me Sabrina Spellman,” he teases, walking past the entire line. He’s able to just acknowledge the bouncer and get let in.

“The beauty of using magic for solely hedonistic purposes,” he says as they walk in, causing her to crack a smile, raising her eyebrows as if it’s something she’s never even considered.

“Let’s get drinks,” he says placing a hand on the small of her back and guiding the way. The close contact sending a wave of giddiness through her.

At the bar he orders for them, handing her two vodka-cranberries and having two gin gimlets for himself. _Two?_ She mouths at him incredulously.

“If there’s anything I learned at the Academy, it’s that I’m a much better dancer when I have at least two drinks in me,” he teases, downing his first drink in one go.

Sabrina tries the same, and almost spits it out, “what the hell, I can taste the alcohol in this!”

“What were you drinking last night?” he asks with a chuckle.

“I had a bunch of _cosmos._ ”

A big smile forms on his face and he clinks the class of his second drink to hers, “to never getting drunk off of cosmos again.”

She rolls her eyes but obliges and downs the second drink as they did the first.

The music is _loud_ , but good. A new song comes on and she grabs his arm, dragging him out to the dance floor, and they fit together perfectly. Both dancing off of one another, moving freely to the music. Bouncing and swaying to the music, holding each others arms.

_Come to me, cover me, hold me. Together we'll break these chains of love_

_Don't give up, don't give up_

_Together with me and my baby - Break the chains of love_

She bounces back away from him, grabbing his forearms with her hands. Moving her right side towards him, he takes it as an opportunity to turn her into him. His arm wrapped across her torso, holding her briefly. She’s twisted into him, trying to find a place to put her hand, when she decides running it through his hair is the best option. Resting it on the back of his neck, he gives a guttural sound of approval.

His hands are now resting on her hips, and hers wrapped around him laced in his hair. Still keeping them bent so they can continue to move to the music. They dance together for a few more songs before taking a break. Nick leads them off the dance floor to a small loveseat, where a waiter immediately appears for drink orders.

“I have to say, you’re an excellent dancer Nick Scratch.”

“So are you Spellman, we fit together perfectly,” he says, nonchalantly taking a sip of the new drink set in front of him.

Sabrina freaks out internally for a few seconds, even her somewhat intoxicated mind is screaming at what he’d just said.

“We do?” She questions skeptically.

“I meant what I said, I think we make a good pair… For dancing at the very least. Pretty great body chemistry...” he says trailing off.

“Nick, are you drunk?”

“Not really, just figured since I’m breaking all the rules tonight, I might as well be honest with you.”

“You’re so much _older_ though,” she says, trying to show him reason.

“Sabrina, I know witches in happy marriages who have age gaps of multiple centuries, two decades won’t hurt anyone,” he says, grabbing her hand.

“Nick,” she says softly, looking right through him.

“Listen, all I’m saying is that I’m done attempting to control myself around you Spellman,” he leans into her, trying to get closer.

Whispering against her neck, he murmurs,  “I can’t hide the way I feel towards you.”

“Nick,” she lets out a soft whimper, feeling his hot breath against her neck.

“I won’t do anything more unless you tell me to, this is your choice Sabrina,” he murmurs. Despite her sitting position, Sabrina feels herself losing her balance.

Running a hand through his hair, she tugs on it slightly. Moving their heads closer together, she kisses him passionately.

She had genuinely thought Harvey to be a good kisser, thoroughly having enjoyed it then. Now that she knows what is possible with Nick, she doesn’t know if she could ever go back. If Harvey was a good kisser, Nick was otherworldly.

He moans into her mouth and she finds it unbelievably hot. She’s unsure as to whether he’s just inebriated enough that he wasn’t  capable of holding back. No guy had ever been so vocal with their enjoyment of anything with her before.

The second they pull apart, the first thing on Sabrina’s mind is when they’ll be able to do it again.

She stands up and drags him back out onto the dance floor, their movements becoming much more deliberately sexually charged than before, when it had just been a side-effect rather than the main event.

They dance for hours on end, so by the time they’re back at the Institute it’s past three am.

They head back inside through the passageway that they left out of. Dumping them back inside of Nick’s office.

“I honestly have no idea how I’m even going to function in tomorrow’s lectures,” Sabrina whines, bemoaning their decision to stay out late.

“Shh… I’ll take care of it,” he replies trying to soothe her. He kisses her forehead and caresses her face with his hand, stroking her temple with his thumb.

“Nick,” Sabrina whispers, looking at him with adoration.

They kiss again, Sabrina taking charge and showing him just how she feels.

“I need to get back to my dorm,” she says softly, her exhaustion overtaking her. Finding her eyelids to grow heavier with every second that passes.

“Or you could stay?” he suggests, some nervousness seeping into the questions.

“Nick, I’ve never...”

“Not what I meant Spellman, I just like having you around,” he grabs her hand and leans in to place a gentle kiss on her lips.

“It’d be nice, laying by your side,” Nick sincerely professes, causing Sabrina’s heart to swell.

She kisses him back and squeezes his hand lightly, “lead the way.”

Going upstairs to his chambers, Sabrina can’t believe she’d just agreed to it. The only thing keeping her from running is the fact she knows he’d let her go anytime she wanted, which may not be a good enough reason but she’s also curious to see what his room looks like.

Entering the room, it’s just about as lavish as one could expect for a High Priest’s living quarters. A sitting area with a fireplace anchors the room, with a painting of Lucifer and Lilith hanging above it. A large canopy bed with luxurious drapings hanging down around it. A separate bathroom, completely updated with granite counters and gilded fixtures. The most interesting part of the room however, is a small closed off room just containing a large soaking tub, decorative shutters separating it from the rest of the room.

Nick is somewhat anxiously watching Sabrina appraise the room, hoping that she’ll approve. While it’s not that he had much choice in the furnishings, he still wants her to like it and feel comfortable there. Since she’ll hopefully be spending more of her time here.

She jumps up on the bed and kicks her shoes off, laying down on top of the plush comforter. He smiles warmly at the sight. She sits up straight and looks at him with a serious expression, “This is the most comfortable bed I’ve been on, it makes the bed in my dorm room seem like a cardboard box.”

“So you’re staying?” he asks, carefully. Still giving her the opportunity to leave should she want to. Though he really hopes she doesn’t.

“Every night from now on, _or_ you could just move this bed into my dorm room and you can sleep on the cardboard box,” she teases.

“Not going to happen Spellman,” he replies, and while he knows she was just joking, having her stay with him _every night from now on_ is definitely something he could live with. He’s starting to shut off lights before climbing into bed, when he’s interrupted.

“Do you have something I could change into?” she asks sheepishly and he kicks himself for not thinking of it before she asked. He takes off his henley and hands it over to her.

She’s a little surprised at the gesture, Nick literally giving her the shirt off his back. She heads into the bathroom to change into it.

Nick strips himself of the jeans as well, leaving him in just his boxer briefs. He settles under the covers and leans against the headboard, waiting for her.

When she emerges from the bathroom in just his Henley,  he could swear she was the most beautiful girl he’d ever laid eyes on. Just the night before he’d been restless, jerking off to the thought of her, and now she’s laying by his side.

Sabrina apprehensively approaches the bed, taking in his appearance. While it isn’t the first time she’s seen him shirtless, it’s the first time she’s _meant to_.

She walks towards him, carefully crawling into the bed next to him and kisses him on the cheek, “Goodnight Nick.”

He sinks into the bed and adjusts to a normal sleeping position, “Goodnight Spellman.”

* * *

When Nick wakes up in the morning, he’s pleasantly surprised to find Sabrina cuddled up to him, her arm draped across his torso.

It’s around eight and he has a class to teach at nine. While Sabrina has her demonology lecture, he’s willing to excuse any issues that Professor Kraft could raise due to her absence. Looking at her sleeping form, Nick isn’t sure how any witch could look so perfect. She stirs lightly, only to hold her arm tighter around him.

What he’d expressed to her days before, regarding his reservations on love, still reigned true. Admittedly, last night was the most fun he’d had in years. He definitely held passionate feelings of desire towards Sabrina, and admired her ambitious nature. Every second he spent with her, the more he’d found himself caring for her.

All things considered, Nick still was unsure what love was. Never having experienced it before, he constantly found himself questioning if what he was feeling lately were the early stages of it. They were certainly opening up to one another, Sabrina’s visit for confession having shown she’s capable of trusting him. Giving himself away entirely, was a completely different story.

He was used to keeping everything locked away. Having compartmentalized so much of his upbringing.

_The death of his parents._

_The way his Familiar Amalia had raised him._

_His years of extensive promiscuity at the Academy._

_The feelings he still harbored, genuinely believing that despite all he’d accomplished so far in life, he was still terribly inadequate and unworthy of love._

He couldn’t figure out what the right move was. She had laid herself before him. Allowing him to comfort her in the loss of her relationship with the Mortal. Sharing her past at the Academy. Sharing her weaknesses and fears. Coming to him, in an effort to learn more about her father. Whether she realized it or not, she’d exposed her true self to him.

While he was comfortable serving as a shoulder to cry on, a relationship would most likely entail emotional reciprocation. He wasn’t sure how he would do that, but for Sabrina, he was willing to learn through any means necessary.

As reluctant as he was to leave her, he needed to find a way to get out of bed without disturbing her too much. Half of her body weight was leaning up against him, so it wasn’t going to be easy.

He lifts her arm up and slides slowly out from under her, kissing her head before setting her arm back down.

“ _No..._ ” She whined softly, still half asleep but aware he was leaving. Her small protest almost convincing him to abandon his classes and hole up with her all day.

He goes to the bathroom and takes a quick shower, emerging from the bathroom with a towel around his waist. Putting on some dress pants and an oxford collar button down. Draping a tie loosely around his neck and proceeding to tie it, while looking in the mirror.

Suddenly noticing Sabrina stirring behind him, “ _N_ _ick_?”

He hates that he wasn’t next to her when she woke up so he makes his way over to her, "good morning.”

A delicate smile graces her features and he’s thankful he’d been cognizant enough last night to place a charm on the two of them to prevent the slight hangover.

“Where are you going?” she says, looking like she’s displeased with the fact he’s dressing.

“I have classes to teach, and should you feel up to it, you have classes to attend,” Nick replies dutifully.

Suddenly she looks panicked, “Nick, I can’t walk out of here in your clothes. Or the dress I was wearing last night.”

“One night with me and you forget you’re a witch,” he teases with a cheeky smile brightening up his features.

Sabrina sits up in the bed and rolls her eyes melodramatically. Getting out of bed she heads to the bathroom, does a twirl and magically dresses herself.

Coming back into the room, Nick appraises her outfit and walks over to her. Wearing a black long-sleeved mock neck sweater, a plaid a-line mini skirt, and heeled black boots that rise above her knee to her lower thigh. The bare skin between where the skirt ends and the top of her boots, driving him wild with lust. Setting his hands on her waist, “you look beautiful.”

She cranes her neck up to kiss him, earning a smile.

He walks over to the bed and grabs her headband off of the bedside table. Returning to her and placing it on her head like a crown, “you almost forgot this.”

She beams at him and places a hand on the back of his neck, beckoning him to meet her halfway. Embracing him in a passionate kiss.

“Here I was, sure you were going to sleep through your first class...”

“I wouldn’t sacrifice my learning for some boy _Headmaster_ ,” she teases.

Nick puts on his waistcoat and a dark grey wool suit jacket, “well, this _boy_ has a class to teach.”


	8. The Domestic

Sabrina managed to make it through her Demonology lecture relatively unscathed, the only particularly interesting part was Tabitha doing some additional prying as to how the outing with her mortal friends went.

Every little inquiry would cause Sabrina to provide Tabitha with some mundane tidbit about Roz or Theo that she kept in the back of her mind, just to satisfy her seemingly endless questioning. She wasn’t clueless though, Sabrina knows that Tabitha was doubting her and was probably checking for inconsistencies in the answers she provided.

When study hall came around, she decided to just run back to her dormitory. Read up on the materials Nick had given her on Physical Apparition. Cracking open the book, she smiles as she sees how many notes he’d taken, so meticulous when it comes to learning. _No wonder he’s gotten so far in the church._

She loses herself in the book, becoming so engrossed in the material that she’s only interrupted by Salem’s meows.  
  
“ _I’m late? Why didn’t you tell me earlier!_ ” Sabrina replies to his meows, frantically gathering her books and running off to her lecture. She hopes to sneak in, but the doors are closed and he’s in the middle of talking. She peers in through the window and when it seems like he’s come to a pause, she opens the door and slinks towards the back of the room.

“ _Thank you for gracing us with your presence Mrs. Spellman,_ ” Nick says, calling her out in front of the entire class, causing her to blush furiously.

The entire class seems to find enjoyment in her less-than-stellar timekeeping skills, all chuckling at her expense. Sabrina gives an exaggerated eye roll and takes out her notebooks, Nick continuing with the lecture he was giving before she’d come in.

At his dismissal, Sabrina hangs back, pretending to finish some last minute notes. Even going as far to wave someone off who was attempting to talk to her, without even acknowledging who it was.

Nick’s doing the same dance, pretending to be much more interested in his lecture materials than he would otherwise. Once he’s fielded a question from a lingering student, they’re alone together.

“ _Why_?”

“Why, what?” he responds coyly.

“Why would you single me out like that? _In front of your entire lecture?_ ” Sabrina challenges, arms crossed in front of her chest.

“I have to treat you as I would anyone else, and no one else has ever dared to show up late,” Nick replies honestly, causing Sabrina to groan.

“I was reading the book _you_ gave me, I lost track of time… Salem didn’t even tell me I was late until ten after!” she protests, shifting the blame to someone else.

“You use your familiar as an alarm clock?” Nick asks with an amused tone.

“Only sometimes,” she says annoyed.

“Sabrina, you should know there’s this thing on your phone called a clock, which you can use to  set timers, alarms, you name it. I would’ve expected you to be more familiar with the technology considering you’re half-mortal,” he teases.

“You’re a _dick_ Nicholas Scratch,” Sabrina snaps. He’s caught off guard, she never uses profanity so freely, and hearing a dirty word come from someone so delicate was a delicious juxtaposition, he decided he liked… a lot. He licks his lips and smiles.

“Surely you don’t mean to use such obscene language in front of your headmaster,” Nick says, clearly having caught her off-guard by calling her out.

She regains her composure quickly, “I know what I said _Nicholas._ ”

“You’re lucky I have a class in a few moments Spellman, or I’d make you eat your words.”

“I’ll take a raincheck on that,” She replies, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. He watches her leave, her platinum blonde curls moving with such an elegant bounce to them, he wonders if she’s used magic to achieve that.

* * *

It began with her bursting through his office doors and hour after the school day had ended.

“I have _questions,_ ” she said pointedly raising the book in her hands.

He was meeting with another student, which Sabrina seemed completely oblivious to. Thankfully they were wrapping up anyways, so it didn’t take too much more on his part to get the previous student out of his office. Once they were gone, Nick let out a content sigh, glad he’s able to focus completely on the witch in front of him.

They’d gone through the book chapters she had needed clarification on, a specific incantation that was needed for traveling across bodies of water, among other things. After addressing some of her actual concerns, his desires moved to the forefront of his thoughts. He was sitting in his chair, Sabrina having walked around so they could look at the text together, she was leaning against the chair, peering over his shoulder.

Quickly he turned and made use of their close proximity, cupping the side of her face to bring her in for a lusty kiss. Taking advantage of his seated position, she drapes a leg over his, effectively straddling him.

She runs her fingers through his hair, tugging slightly. Eliciting a throaty groan of approval from Nick, they continue their passionate embrace, oblivious to the crack of the door.

Tabitha stands frozen outside of his office, closing the door as silently as possible. Completely shocked at what she’d laid witness to. If it were anyone else, she might of potentially considered the possibility that Headmaster Scratch had a guest over, but that tell-tale platinum hair had given them up. She could confront Sabrina about it, it was undeniable.

Slightly giddy at this information, she considers what to do. Blackmail is the obvious route, but she actually likes Sabrina and considers her to be one of the more tolerable witches at the institute. Maybe she could use it as leverage with Father Scratch to gain rank in the church. Still unsure of the extent of their relationship, she wonders if the smartest move isn’t just to wait it out, and see if it’s just casual or something serious, and then act on it.

Regardless, Tabitha holds her head a little higher from that point on. Clearly smug with having this intel, an invaluable trump card she could play at any moment should the witch dare to cross her.

“Coming to mass tonight Sabrina?” Ellie asks from her spot in the common room as Sabrina passes through. Piquing Tabitha’s interest.

She stops in her tracks as if she’s thinking about it, “I might actually take tonight off, I went last night and I have some reading to do.”

“Questioning your devotion to the Dark Lord?” Madison teases.

“Oh, quite the contrary, I don’t see you at Cathedral Services _Madison_ ,” Sabrina retorts with an edge that earns her some respect from Tabitha.

“Well, I think we should take the night off. Raise some hell downtown perhaps?” Tabitha suggests.

“Like I said, I have studying to do,” Sabrina dismisses again.

“Please, like I don’t notice you have top marks _Spellman_. This isn’t a suggestion, it’d be wise of you to join us,” Tabitha says, catching Sabrina off-guard.

“I’ll go change, when are we leaving?” She submits, much to Tabitha’s pleasure.

“Just hurry up, we’ll leave when we leave,” Madison says with an eye-roll.

When Sabrina attempts to rejoin them in the common room, no one’s there yet. So she waits on the couch and takes the free moment to text Ambrose, not having spoken with him since the weekend.

She’s typing when her attention is averted to the witches in front of her.

“Sabrina, you have to change,” Madison states plainly. Seeing how they’re all dressed, she thinks Madison may have a point, so she runs back to her room and changes into a silky shimmery pink mini-dress, short enough for the occasion and the spaghetti-straps serving some type of practicality given her newly-discovered knowledge about how hot clubs can get.

She puts on some nude block heels and heads back out.

“You look so _angelic_ ,” Adeline teases, presumably about the color. The rest of them are in black, save for Tabitha who’s in a long-sleeved deep red mini-dress.

“Let’s go,” Tabitha leads, and they leave, catching an Uber downtown.

Once they arrive at the club, there’s a long line, as there was when she went out with Nick. Unlike then, it doesn’t take magic for them to skip the line. Tabitha and the others seem to already know the bouncer, Madison whispers something in the man’s ear and runs a hand down his chest. With that, they’re all let in.

The club isn’t as loud as the one she went to with Nick, but the music still reverberates throughout the venue. Sabrina isn’t feeling the most up to drinking tonight,  so she goes up to the bar and orders a seltzer, grabbing a lime wedge to float in it, so the girls think she’s drinking.

Returning back to the group they’re all lounging on a few couches, men by their sides already. _Ah, so they’re torturing mortal boys tonight._ Ellie appraises Sabrina as she approaches the group and starts laughing, “what a _doll,_ Sabrina went and got her own drink _._ ”

For a moment she thinks they can tell she only has seltzer in the glass until Tabitha continues, “you don’t have to lift a finger here. These young men are at our beck and call tonight... _._ ”

 _Oh._ Connecting the dots, she sees they’ve charmed the boys to be at their service tonight. For a moment Sabrina feels guilty, thinking about the typical situation in which douchebags slip rohypnol in girls drinks to take advantage of them. She wonders if this is actually any different, I mean sure, they’re not drugged, but they also don’t have control of themselves.

“Too late,” Sabrina replies, taking a seat at the empty space between Tabitha and Adeline.

“We’re all _so glad_ you came out with us tonight Sabrina…” Adeline coos, starting to rub at Sabrina’s back and massage her. She’s a little shocked at touch but ends up melting into it because she’s so tense.

“You’re always so serious, hiding out in your room and studying. You should be more social,” Tabitha says, placing a hand on Sabrina’s knee.

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Sabrina asks incredulously with a chuckle.

“It’s a start,” Madison says with a wink, taking a sip of the drink in front of her.

The mortal boys return over to them, each girl grabs one of their choosing to dance with. Except for Tabitha, who extends her hand to Sabrina instead. They dance together, the upbeat song providing an easy rhythm to move to.

An hour or so passes, filled with dancing, drink breaks, and more dancing. Despite her initial reluctance to go, Sabrina finds herself having a good time, not having to study or worry about anything. Though, each time she’s dragged onto the dance floor she finds herself wishing she were dancing with Nick.

The girls get increasingly drunk, with lowered inhibitions, and if they weren’t currently manipulating the mortal boys, Sabrina would be worried the tables could be turned. She’s the only sober one of the bunch and as the night crawls to an end, she feels as if she’s a lifeguard; making sure that none of them go too far into the deep end.

Somehow, she manages to get all of them into an Uber without protest. Once they get back to the Institute, it’s around one in the morning and she’s constantly having to tell the girls to lower their voices. Ushering them all to their dormitories, she retreats back to her own. Despite the late hour, she’s completely alert and having trouble falling asleep.

Once again she finds herself in the conservatory, whipping up a relaxation tea of sorts to help her fall asleep. She only wishes she could be back home at the mortuary. For the first time since she’s arrived to the institute, she’s finding herself a little homesick.

Thinking about it, she almost considers astral projecting back home just to make sure everyone’s still there. She sips from her mug, lost in thought.

The sound of a throat clearing from behind causes her to jump. Her heart having skipped a beat, she turns to face the intruder. Her hardened expression softens at the sight, “Nicholas, it’s late.”

“I could say the same of you Spellman,” he says approaching her, Peering over into her mug to appraise the contents.

“Having trouble sleeping?” he asks, bringing a hand to her face to gently brush her cheek.

“Tabitha and company took me as a hostage and dragged me to a club, not my ideal night but I’m unscathed,” she replies.

“Reconsidering your stance on clubbing?”

“No, I enjoy it. Though enchanting mortal boys to serve as my personal slaves isn’t exactly my idea of a good time...”

“And your idea of-”

“I wish you were there… Instead of them,” she admits softly. “It was a little scary, just how wrong things could’ve gone. They were all so drunk and I felt like I had to supervise them...”

“Sounds stressful,” Nick places a gentle kiss on her forehead, hugging her tightly.

“... how did you know I was in here?” Sabrina asks, looking up at him, obviously puzzled.

“I have eyes and ears everywhere,” he replies cryptically, teasing her.

“I don’t want to be alone tonight,” she whispers, the stress of the night and her homesickness revealing her somewhat fragile emotional state.

“You’re not,” he replies, placing a hand on the small of her back and leading her out of the room. Walking her back to his place, not caring in the slightest who bear witness.

It starts with a moan, Sabrina takes her heels off once they get to his quarters. Experiencing immense relief to be rid of the damn things. Nick has to excuse himself to the bathroom to calm himself.

When he re-enters the room, she’s sitting on the loveseat by the fireplace, curled up with the mug, containing the godforsaken herbal concoction she made earlier. He heats up a kettle and makes two proper cups of chamomile.

Walking over he removes the mug from her palms, causing a slight pout. He almost feels guilty until he sees the happy expression that takes over her face once he gives her _his_ tea.

Despite the intense mutual desire that exists between them, they just sit near each other. Her eyes transfixed on the dancing fire, and his gaze stuck on her.

He’s not sure how long he stares at her for, the slinky pink mini-dress she’s wearing has been driving him mad for the past hour. His mind keeps going back to the small unintentional moan she let out earlier, and he considers what he’d give to hear it again.

Not even asking, he grabs her foot and moves it into his lap, slowly massaging it. She’s taken aback at first but once his fingers start working into her foot, she finds herself incapable of protesting. Watching through hooded eyelids she’s still shocked at the intimate gesture.

Harvey had never done this before, she attempted giving him a back massage after he’d spent a day in the mines, but fell asleep in the middle of it.

He kisses the top of her foot and grabs the other, repeating the process that nearly causes her to tilt her head back in pleasure. Watching him, his mind is somewhere else, but she’s only focused on _him._ Surely this wasn’t sexual, but the desire coursing through her, at his willingness to do such a caring gesture, wasn’t lost on either of them. Once his movements slowed and he was nearing a stop, she scoots over to him and settles across the top of his thighs. Wrapping her arms around his neck and peppering his jaw with soft kisses.

“Thank you Nick.”

He manages to capture her lips in a kiss, their sleeplessness causing a more languid kiss than their usual fervent ones.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed Spellman,” he says, positioning an arm under her knees, so he can stand up and carry her to the bed. He sets her down softly, pulling down the duvet so she can cuddle under if she wants.

She settles into the mattress comfortably, watching him as he stands by his dresser, stripping off layer after layer of clothing. She bites her lower lip, sure that she’s blushing, but the view is worth any potential admonishment she could face for getting caught staring.

He shuts off the remaining lights and settles in as well.

Being bolder than usual she cuddles into his side laying her head on his bare chest. His fingers run through her hair and a pleasurable shiver courses through her at the feeling of his fingers touching her head. With promises of sweet dreams, she falls asleep; Nick soon after.

Surprisingly, Sabrina rises first. Taking the time to get ready and dressed, in an attempt to perform some damage control given last night. Noticing he has a coffee pot and grounds on the kitchen counter, she starts a pot before heading back to the bed. It may not be domestic bliss, but she was having fun pretending for a morning.

She settles down next to him and traces her fingers along the contours of his chest for a bit until he stirs awake, The second he sees her, a big smile overtakes his features.

“I thought I dreamt it,” he greets in a throaty morning voice. Sabrina finds herself getting warm at the deep sexy tone.

“How do you take your coffee?”

He takes a second to sniff the air, confirming that her question wasn’t just a joke.

“A little bit of cream, no sugar,” he replies, giving her a peck. Before he can hug her like he intends to, she’s bouncing off to the kitchen, causing him to briefly groan at the loss. He instantly perks up when she returns with coffee.

Looking at the clock, he’s shocked that he feels so rested for the paltry amount of sleep he got.

He sits up against the headboard and she’s next to him, sitting cross legged, nursing her own mug.

“You’re incredible,” he says earnestly, she uncomfortably averts her gaze at the compliment as her cheeks betray her and flush.

“ _T_ _hank you,_ I do however, have to go get things in order before my first class, so I’m abandoning you,” she announces and he’s slightly struck by the loss.

He plays it off well, “Thanks for the coffee Spellman.”

“Anytime Scratch,” she replies before leaving, and he sincerely hopes she meant it.


	9. The First Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're in for a while ride readers.
> 
> Fair warning, it gets pretty explicit towards the end ;)
> 
> Leave your feedback as well! I'm desperate for comments and they motivate me to write more <3

The next two days go by, business as usual. Sabrina actually dealing with a heavy workload from Demonology and Ritual Binding, left her with less free time than she’d like. She made it to black mass on Wednesday and Thursday, if only using it as an excuse to see Nick.

Nick too, had proved to be an exceptionally difficult man to pin down outside of his obligations. At times, it seemed as if he was running around the city. The one time Sabrina had gone to his office, there were a few faculty members in with him, causing her to turn right back around.

Other than some group work she had to do with Tobias and Sophia, Sabrina holed up in her dormitory, pouring over her father’s journals and the physical apparition materials from Nick.

By the time Friday rolled around, she was just thankful for the break.

Much to the curiosity of Sabrina and every other witch and warlock at the Institute. Their Headmaster had abruptly cancelled his classes and the evenings Black Mass. The halls had initially been filled with hushed voices, most witches had a flair for melodrama.

Once they’d learned of the news from professor Kraft, Tabitha was shocked, Father Scratch had never missed a single day of teaching. She was constantly sizing up Sabrina to see if she would give any indication as to know anything, but the blonde was a disappointing blank slate.

It was a free period in which they’d otherwise be in their conjuration lecture. Another night of partying had led to a killer hangover. By their free period, Tabitha was still nursing the hangover tonic Sabrina gave her during Demonology, significantly helping to alleviate the pounding in her head. The kind gesture almost made her feel bad that she had been hiding what she knew of their relationship. Maybe it was best that she just confront Sabrina and straight up ask her what their deal was, but she thought better of it.

Rushing off to the library for an escape, Madison and Ellie hadn’t even been acting like they were hungover, though Adeline looked as if she were going to set the school on fire should anyone speak to her.

Sabrina, on the other hand. was hiding in her dormitory, taking the extra free time to sulk over Nick’s sudden absence and pour over her physical apparition book. She was on her second go round now, and felt confident that once Nick got back, and she had an actual night’s rest, that they’d be able to practice some actual hands on teleportation.

Some hours pass and the mood throughout the school was different. As Sabrina walks to her Ritual Binding classroom, most students are engaged in lively debates, speculating the whereabouts of their High Priest.

It was a small punch in the gut for Sabrina, realizing that just because she was in the midst of a fling with their beloved Headmaster, didn’t mean he wouldn’t just treat her like any other student.

It being Friday meant she would have to wait all the way until Monday to get clarity on the situation, and she wasn’t the kind of witch who was content with patiently waiting. Even though she knew he’d be back soon, and would likely explain everything, she still felt ghosted.

As the school-day came to an end, most witches were speaking of the extracurriculars and parties to occur over the weekend. Sabrina sat in silence in Central Park, waiting for Aunt Zelda to pick her and Salem up. She was worried about Nick, the day had passed and there was still no sign of him. She was tempted to stay around and see whether he made it back in time for Black Mass, but she genuinely just wanted to return back to Greendale and get a semblance of normalcy back in her life.

* * *

Nick had teleported across the seas to Rome, by means of physical apparition. He supposes he could’ve just summoned the council, but due to the inconvenience that may cause them, he thought it better to go to them. Thinking that would make winning their favor on this particular matter slightly easier.

He was dealing with slight exhaustion, the energy spent getting here having drained him, and the busy week he had already having taken a toll on him. He’d spent the week organizing the upcoming Lupercalia Festivities for the Institute, and researching the transcripts from Ambrose Spellman’s original witch trial so he had a strong case to present the council. Then there were his attempts to see Sabrina, that kept getting interrupted by faculty meetings and student concerns.

Additionally, there were the examinations for incoming students for the following year that were to be administered next month, it was important to have a robust panel of judges and proctors, so he had to start getting the ball rolling on that.

This trip, while at an inopportune time for Nick was necessary, while it was mainly a personal request for Ambrose Spellman, he also had matters to attend with the anti-pope. Ever since his appointment to the Satanic Cathedral, Nick had maintained an amicable relationship with His Unholy Eminence, and needed to make sure he stayed in his good graces.

Nick had traveled far to get here, now finding himself outside of the Council’s regular meeting place. A quaint anti-church in the Italian countryside. Much like the Institute, it had a picturesque facade with miles of tunnels and rooms existing underneath it.

He enters, and approaches the council. They’re all gathered together at a table, anticipating his arrival.

“Father Scratch, what a treat. Join us,” Enoch, the anti-pope speaks. Nick is somewhat surprised at his presence given he doesn’t normally join the council on legal proceedings.

“I don’t suppose you’re here to tell us you’ve reconsidered our offer on joining the council?” Methuselah asks pompously.

Nick evades the question, “I’m here to discuss commuting the sentence of Ambrose Spellman.”

“On what grounds?”

“Exemplary behavior and wasted potential.”

“Ah, Ambrose Spellman, it’s been a minute since I’ve heard that name. An unfortunate young follower of Crowley… I see that he’s indefinitely bound to the Spellman Mortuary. What lesser of a sentence are you seeking?” Enoch asks, looking over the documentation Nick had provided them with.

“I’d like a proper assistant at the Institute, pulling students from their invaluable class time to serve me is nonsensical when I could have a proper servant,” Nick says in an attempt to speak the language of power-focused authoritative warlocks.

“Why Ambrose Spellman? There are plenty of other warlocks serving for their witch-law transgressions. Many of which are serving lesser sentences than that of...” Enoch again reads from the papers Nick had provided him, “conspiring to blow up the Vatican.”

“Well, considering Edward Spellman was a personal friend of mine, I feel that traditional nepotism is preferable to my hiring of a stranger,” he negotiates.

“Very well then, Ambrose Spellman shall continue out his sentence with additional permissions to travel to-and-from the Institute of the Divine Craft, as well as any pre-approved trips you should require his assistance on,” the Anti-Pope announces.

“I genuinely hope you reconsider our offer Father Scratch, you’d prove an invaluable addition to this council,” Methuselah says, raising their previous proposition.

Enoch stands before the rest of them, and gestures for Nick to come speak with him in private.

“I have a task for you, Nicholas. There are some dissidents I need you to take care of. Take a detour on your way back to the Institute and dispose of them,” the Anti-Pope requests. Nick swallows the lump in his throat and nods, it’s certainly not something he wants to do; but receiving a task from His Unholy Eminence is akin to being tasked by the Dark Lord himself. It’s not something any witch should protest unless they wish to be "taken care of."

* * *

Nick manages to return to the Institute, just in time for Black Mass, with a guilty conscious and nowhere near the energy he needs to lead a service.

He does end up going, out of moral obligation. He’s disconcerted at the idea the service is going to be less than stellar, sure that every witch in the room can see he’s nowhere near baseline. Giving a sermon, speaking of obeying the Dark Lord, is somewhat painful, given that he’s just dealt with the consequences of blind devotion.

Just an hour ago, he’d killed about a dozen teenage witches and warlocks, for intermingling with Catholics. Despite all of them having signed their name in the Book of the Beast, he was baffled as to how they felt as if playing double agent to the Dark Lord and the False God was somehow going to amplify their powers.

It was a taxing experience, having killed that many young witches. Even though he’d done it quickly, in the most ethical way he could think of, it still weighed on him. Not that he hadn’t killed before, this time was different, doing it execution style while they’re unable to fight back, so greatly overpowered by a single warlock.

He would have faced unspeakable consequences had he not followed through with the Anti-Pope’s order, accusations of treason, and the council questioning his loyalty to the Dark Lord. If they didn’t murder him, he’d surely face excommunication, or being stripped of his station and titles.

Despite that he’d done it our of necessity, he felt so ruthless and empty. Their screams and faces infiltrating his thoughts; all while he’s attempting to lead mass.  

He still follows through with his duties at the Satanic Cathedral, thankful that the Satanic Choir was performing tonight, affording him a small escape from the spotlight. Once they’re finished, he gives the closing remarks and is finally free to head back home. Though he’s unsure that sleep will come given what he had to do today.

Getting back to his apartment at the Institute, he draws himself a hot bath. He gets in the tub and is grateful that his muscles instantly respond to the heat. He wants to call Sabrina, but it’s so late he figures it’d be inconsiderate to bother her at this hour.

He feels so broken, wishing more than anything that Sabrina were here so he wouldn’t have to be alone tonight.

* * *

 

The Spellman household was thrilled to have Sabrina back, though she wouldn’t be the first to admit it, Zelda Spellman misses having her rebellious energy in the house from time to time. Not having her around made the Mortuary feel much like the bodies kept in the morgue, cold and quiet.

They whipped up an extravagant breakfast, much to the approval of Ambrose and Sabrina. Hilda was pleased she was able to bake for an extra head again. Though in Sabrina’s absence she never altered the recipes, still choosing to cook for four.

A spread of pancakes, breakfast meats, and fruit is on the dining table, with each of them cooking their own eggs.

Sitting at the table Ambrose and Sabrina are engaged in a lively debate, Hilda is watching on in amusement, Zelda is reading a paper, and Salem is licking a piece of sausage that fell to the floor.

There’s an unexpected knock on the door, which Ambrose bounces over to get.

Sabrina’s heart skips a beat when she sees Nick standing in the door frame. Ambrose is quick to invite him in.

“Father Scratch, what a pleasure to see you,” Zelda greets. Nick being quick to win her over with his usual charms.

“Actually, I came over to speak with Ambrose.”

Zelda raises an eyebrow, wondering what business he holds with her nephew.

Nick and Ambrose excuse themselves to the parlor, Sabrina desperately wishing to eavesdrop on them.

From the other room, they’d just taken their seats.

“Ambrose, I went to meet with the Council yesterday,” Nick starts, causing Ambrose to become hyper alert to whatever Father Scratch has to say.

“It’s not the perfect solution I’d hoped for, _nothing ever is with Enoch,_ but I was able to commute your sentence, on the grounds you’d serve as my assistant at the Institute. Providing you permissions to travel to-and-from the Institute, as well as accompanying me on trips,” Nick says.

“Father Scratch, I don’t know how to adequately express my gratitude,” Ambrose begins, nearly bursting at the thought of being able to leave the Mortuary.

“Hopefully, this should only be a temporary arrangement. Later, we’ll follow up with a tribunal and work towards your pardon, and complete freedom,” Nick continues, Ambrose on the verge of kissing his feet.

“I’m entirely at your service Father Scratch,” Ambrose says, bowing his head.

“Additionally, I’m extending to you, the option to enroll in courses, participate in extracurriculars, and a dormitory of your own.”

“Thank you, your excellency. This is a hell-send, I am forever indebted to you.”

Nick scoffs slightly, “you’re not Brother Ambrose. The satanic courts were quite austere a century ago. I doubt if your case was retried now that it’d get the same sentence. Personally, I think it’s admirable you didn’t give up your co-conspirators. Though, I understand why the council felt it was an act of insubordination.”

“Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

“I’ll stick around for a while,” Nick replies nonchalantly.

“What was that about?” Sabrina prods when Nick and Ambrose join them at the Table.

“Father Scratch offered me a job at the Institute, as a means of commuting my sentence,” Ambrose announces, practically singing in glee. Excitedly stuffing a piece of pancake in his mouth.

Zelda nearly drops her cup of coffee while Hilda rushes to envelope him in a bear hug. Sabrina smirks and gives Nick a knowing look. Zelda excuses herself to a separate room, clearly overcome but not willing to show it.

Sabrina gestures to the staircase, and mouths _follow me_ at Nick before excusing herself.

Nick surveys the situation, not quite sure how to escape without getting questioned by HIlda, Ambrose, or Zelda as to why exactly he’s following Sabrina to her room.

He opts to just leave out the front door, saying his goodbyes before teleporting to her room.

She jumps at his sudden presence, “Nick! You could’ve used the door like a normal person.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he teases, a little woozy at the apparition. He goes over to lock her bedroom door so as not to implicate himself in whatever one of the Spellman’s might witness if they were to walk in.

“I couldn’t come up with an excuse as to why I was following you to your bedroom,” Nick explains.

“Please, Auntie Zee would probably be thrilled if I were with you,” Sabrina remarks and he’s taken aback, _weren’t they together?_

“Well at least I now know why you went AWOL, the entire Institute was speculating as to your whereabouts. It wasn’t fun being kept in the dark,” She says sincerely, though a small frown shows through.

He moves to her and wraps his arms around her, hugging Sabrina tightly. He kisses her forehead softly, “I’m sorry.”

“All the free time, in which I should’ve had my conjuration lecture, did have me questioning some things...”

“Such as?”

“What am I to you? I mean, I know you’ve said in the past you’re not a relationship type of guy, and that most witches aren’t… but I’m not _most witches._ ”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t a relationship guy,” he defends.

“Okay, _incapable of monogamy_ then,” she says, recalling an earlier conversation they had.

“Those, were your words, not mine… remember? _I said_ , that I’d give anything for half of what you and the mortal had. I’ve never been in love with someone before, so I don’t even know how to go about half of this. But I like what we’ve been doing, and I like being around _you._ ”

“I like being around you too,” She says happily, intertwining their fingers.

“It’s _only_ you, last night you were the only thing on my mind Sabrina Spellman, all I could think about was how badly I wanted you there with me,” Nick confesses, a tortured look behind his eyes, that Sabrina is oblivious to.

“Similar night for me, but I was a little pissed off that I had no idea where you ran off to,” she says, reciprocating his sentiment, but not going as deep into how deeply she had longed for him, the nervous emotional knots in her chest that kept her up into the night because she was worried for him.

He uses his hand to tilt her head up slightly so they’re both staring right at each other. He cranes his neck downward to engage her in a loving kiss, which quickly turns needy. Both of them desperate to convey just how much they’d missed the other, if only for a day.

Nick attempting to mask the pain and trauma of the previous day, wanting to overshadow all of the negative emotions trapped inside of him with the feeling he gets whenever he’s around the beautiful witch in front of him.

When they part she looks up at him, and her lips part as if she’s wanting to say something but it’s not coming out. He caresses the side of her face with his hand and gently rubs her temple with his thumb, trying to be encouraging.

“Nick, are you my boyfriend?” she asks tentatively, her heart sinking for a brief moment at the thought of him rejecting her.

“Well, I hope so,” he replies with a beaming smile, picking her up and carrying her to the bed, so they can lay next to each other.

Sabrina still has a giddy smile on her face thanks to his answer, they quickly start kissing again. Nick pleased at this new revelation, _they belong to each other_. While it makes his heart swell, it also scares him slightly.

His entire life, he’s never been bound to anyone. Growing up without a family meant that he was afforded a certain kind of freedom, that while synonymous with his loneliness, also meant that he was completely independent. While uncharted territory, there was no one else he’d rather explore it with.

His hand rests on her hip, they’re both laying on their sides and kissing each other like it’s an essential life function. She’s running her hands down his chest, then hooking her thumbs under the waistband of his pants, pulling him closer.

His hand travels upward, slipping underneath her shirt and sliding a hand up her back, reveling in the warm softness of her exposed skin. He continues exploring her body, following the band of her bra to her chest, slowly encroaching on her breasts.

“Is this okay?” he asks softly, pulling back slightly in an attempt to gauge her reaction. She nods eagerly in approval and runs a hand through his hair, pulling slightly to rejoin their lips.

Nick cups her breast, grazing her nipple with his thumb, then proceeding to trace circles on the sensitive skin. Sabrina moans softly, causing his dick to twitch.

Nick pulls his lips from hers briefly, speaking a promise against her lips, “The next time we get a moment alone, I’m going to worship you Sabrina Spellman.”

She melts at his profession, suddenly needing to press her thighs together in an effort to quell the intense wave of desire caused by his statement.

They’re interrupted by a knock at the door, followed by the jiggling of the handle. Nick offers a quick peck on the lips before apparating away. Leaving an aroused Sabrina to answer the door, she opens it and leans against the doorway, somewhat agitated.

Ambrose pushes past her and looks around the room, “Why was the door locked? Hiding a boy perhaps?” he teases, and despite the joke, he’s genuinely curious.

“I was changing,” Sabrina replies.

“Bullshit, you’re in the same clothes you wore to breakfast,” he replies, calling her bluff.

“You caught me just before, see I have my clothes laid out and everything,” she says, gesturing to the clothes draped over her desk chair that she’d brought back from the Institute.

“Ah, I see,” Ambrose replies, still not believing her but deciding to drop the interrogation.

“So, looks like you’ll be coming with me to the Institute on Monday,” Sabrina says excitedly jumping next to his seat on the bed.  

“As Headmaster Scratch’s assistant no less,” he replies happily with an eyebrow waggle.

“What was _that?_ ”

“Oh, nothing. Just can’t believe I get to look at him all day. Tell me, what’s the deal with him, is he bisexual? He exudes an intense carnal energy that is driving me mad.”

“He has a girlfriend actually,” Sabrina replies, hoping he’ll drop the subject.

“Well I’m sure I’ll meet her soon enough given my new station working at his side,” Ambrose says, and it becomes apparent that he walked into her room with an agenda.

“You wouldn’t happen to be his girlfriend? I mean when I peered through your keyhole the guy in your bed looked an awful a lot like him.”

Her eyes widen in surprise. Sabrina hits his arm hard, mainly just pissed he looked through the keyhole, “Ambrose! You were spying on us?”

He over-dramatically rubs the site of impact, “I won’t say anything, it’s your business. And It’s quite possible that your _close_ relationship with him, may have motivated him to look into my sentence and bring about this alternative solution, so I’m honestly grateful that you’re shacking up with the High Priest.”

“I’m not _shacking up_ with him. He’s been mentoring me, but as we spent more time together, it just _clicked._ In fact, before you interrupted me, we were defining our relationship. He’s my boyfriend now,” Sabrina admits, the initial giddiness she felt from the earlier conversation with Nick returning.

“Anything else I should know?”

“I think that’s about it, but as of now you’re the only other person who knows, so for the love of Satan, I can trust you’ll keep quiet about it?”

“You have my word cous… What a rebound, you go from the goofy mortal farmboy to _that_.”

“Harvey was no-” she starts, then interrupts herself, “actually I have no reason to defend him… _but Nick?_ I know Ambrose…. Just wait until you see him lead Black Mass Services, you might just fall in love with him. I’m just shocked he likes me, he’s just so _powerful_ and _sexy_ , girls at the Institute just fall at his feet, he could have his pick of anyone, and he chose _me_. ”

“So, you’re going to have to help me get the lay of the land at the Institute, show me where all the handsome warlocks hang out,” he says with a cheeky smile, still beaming from the news. For the first time in what seems like an eternity, he’s able to leave the mortuary, and venture into the city, no less.

Sabrina’s phone buzzes from its place on the bedside table and she sees it’s a text from Nick.

It reads, ‘ _s_ _orry I bolted, everything alright_?’

She types out a quick reply and Ambrose peers over her shoulder to see what she’s typing, she attempts to shoo him off with a wave but he stays put, so she makes a point in her reply, “ _Just Ambrose being nosy, he knows by the way’_

‘ _Would the two of you like a ride back to the Institute on Sunday?_ ’

She raises an eyebrow at Ambrose to consult him on the idea and he frantically urges her to say yes.

_‘Don’t you have mass? are you not going back to the city tonight?’_

Ambrose smacks her arm, “why don’t you just say yes, he’s offering for a reason.”

‘ _No mass tonight.’_

_‘So you’re spending the night in Greendale?’_

_‘At the Academy,’_ he confirms.

‘ _Want to see a movie tonight?_ ’

‘ _Are you asking me on a date?_ ’ he teases.

 _‘Pick me up at 7,’_ she replies.

“The two of you are insufferable,” Ambrose teases and Sabrina gives him a light slap on the arm for it.

“Go bother someone else if you’re going to be mean,” she replies with a playful smile, clearly enthusiastic that she’s actually going on a date with Nick.

“We’ll I’ll leave you to it then, if you need any help picking out an outfit, I’m at your service,” Ambrose jokes, exiting Sabrina’s room.

She knows he was kidding, but she couldn’t help but think _what was she going to wear?_

Even though she’s not nervous about what to wear, she wants something special, and she’d already used the black mini-dress when they went dancing. Despite not being too sure how she feels about it, she picks up her phone and dials a number she hasn’t in a while.

“I need your help,” she says, before they’re even able to answer.

Roz’s voice rings through the phone, “Sabrina!”

Roz is somewhat shocked to hear her voice given that she’d pulled another disappearing act on Greendale, seemingly for good.

“What’s going on? Is everything alright?”

“I need to go shopping, and you’re the only person who I trust to give me their honest opinion on these things. Meet me in town?”

“Sure, I’m wrapping up some schoolwork at the library, I’ll be there in 30?”

They meet at Dr. Cee’s, for a quick bite before shopping. Once they sit down, Roz lays it on her, “As happy as I am to see you right now, can you please stop ghosting me. I had to find out that you _transferred schools_ from Mrs. Wardwell. You weren’t answering any Snapchats I’d sent. It hurt being iced out like that.”

Sabrina bites her tongue, wanting to quip, _it hurt when you started dating Harvey,_ but she thinks better of it. Any bitter resentment she’d held towards Roz over that, was slowly being replaced by how much better she fits with Nick.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, kids at the Institute don’t really use cellphones and it’s poor reception there to begin with. I’ll be better about keeping in touch with you _and_ Theo.”

“That’s a lame excuse and you know it…. Anyways, why are we shopping and why must I accompany you?” She asks curiously, playing with the straw in her milkshake.

“I have a _date_ tonight,” Sabrina confesses, a smile playing on her lips.

“Oh my God, with _who_? Tell me everything!”

“Well, he’s a warlock. His name is Nicholas Scratch,” Sabrina says, biting her bottom lip nervously.

“Oh! He sounds sexy.”

“He is… Has anything happened with Harvey?”

“Well, actually over the last few weeks, Harvey and I have been hanging out. And, well, he asked me to go to the Sweethearts Dance with him. And I haven't said yes yet, because we're still friends,” she rambles and Sabrina feels the need to cut her off. She can’t believe she was ever mad at her, given how nervous she seems to be about this.

“Not that you need it, but I give you my blessing. You and Harvey, I mean.”

“Sabrina…” Roz starts, taking her hand.

“At first, when Theo told me there might be something going on between the two of you. I felt furious and betrayed… but the more time that’s passed, the more I feel like you and Harvey make sense in a way that Harvey and I never could.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Your natures, both being mortal, the two of you are so kind and light together. After everything with Tommy, I don’t think Harvey could ever trust me again. Even though he tried saying he’s fine with me being a _witch_ , he never really was. Being with Nick though, someone who understands and embraces that part of me… I could never go back to Harvey.”

Roz lets out a sigh of relief, Sabrina’s words calming a fear that had risen the second she started developing feelings for Harvey. That no matter what, if Sabrina went back to him, he’d go running into her arms. Ever since they were kids, it always felt like Harvey and Sabrina were destined to end up together. But hearing Sabrina say she could never go back to him, made her selfishly happy that it wasn’t something she’d have to worry about anymore.

“Off to Sunnyside Mall then?” Roz suggests.

“Actually, there’s a vintage shop over in Riverdale I’ve been wanting to check out, if you’re up for it?” she asks hopefully.

“Sounds _groovy!”_ Roz exclaims with a small laugh.

They head over to the vintage shop in Riverdale, the sections of clothing organized very neatly for a resale shop, tags on the clothing specifying the decade the garment was from, and the measurements since the sizes can get kind of funky.

After browsing for an hour, each girl heads to the dressing room with bountiful armfuls of clothing. Emerging from the dressing rooms occasionally to get the other’s opinion.

“I mean this one is _decent,_ but I don’t think it’s perfect,” Sabrina says, doing a slight twirl in the dress to see what sort of movement.

“Keep trying other stuff on, when it’s the right one _you’ll know_ ,” Roz yells back through the curtain.

Roz steps out of her dressing room wearing a floral shirtwaist dress, which is cute but impractical.

“I look like a nineteen-fifties housewife,” she proclaims with a giggle, doing a small pose with her hands on her waist. Sabrina takes a peek through the curtain and bursts out laughing as well.

Changing into a deep red silk midi length v-neck slip dress, she gets somewhat optimistic. It checks out in the mirror, but she needs to get a second opinion. Stepping out of the dressing room, she’s startled by the immediate reaction.

“ _Wow,_ Nick Scratch is going to have a hard time picking his jaw up from the floor if you get that one, seriously Sabrina, you look gorgeous,” Roz gushes and Sabrina hugs her, overdramatically jumping up and down for the fun of it.

“You don’t think it’s overkill for a movie date?”

“It might be, but so what? His reaction will be worth it, I’m sure of it,” Roz says with a teasing wink, causing Sabrina to let out a genuine laugh.

Buying the dresses the two of them found, along with a few other items, they nearly skip back to Roz’s car. Both of the girls happy they’re hanging out again, a fresh reminder of how close they used to be.

She’s surprised when there’s a knock at the door just a minute before seven. They didn’t exactly discuss what they’d tell her aunties in regards to what was happening, but given how dolled up Sabrina is, it’s obvious.

Zelda raises her eyebrows when she sees Nick at the front door, but approvingly ignores the situation. Hilda, on the other hand, can’t keep her mouth shut at her disapproval.

“Oh hush Hilda, Edward was seventy years older than Diana.”

Nick has to use every bit of restraint he can muster to not kiss her in front of her entire family. He greets her with a tight hug, whispering in her ear, “you look incredible.”

Sabrina gives a slight wave to her Aunties, and Ambrose snickers in the background at Hilda’s dramatic reaction to the pair.

They walk out the front headed towards his car when he stops in his tracks, holding her back with an arm around her waist before pulling their bodies close together for a passionate kiss. Pulling back, Sabrina has an amused smirk on her face, “I was wondering when you were going to do that.”

“Believe me, it took everything in me not to do that in front of your family,”

Approaching the car Nick opens the door for her, Sabrina happily sits in the passenger seat. They drive off into town, parking the second the Paramount cinema comes into view.

Nick walks around and takes her hand, helping her out of the car. Even Sabrina, who prides herself on being independent, can appreciate a chivalrous gesture every now and then

Walking up to the ticket booth, Sabrina attempts to pay for her own ticket but is predictably dismissed by Nick. Who wraps his arm around her, placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her when they enter the theatre.

Sabrina nearly jumps when they reach the lobby and are greeted by none other than Mrs. Wardwell, “Sabrina, and _Father Scratch,_ ” She says, curiously mentioning the Warlock’s name, raising an eyebrow as an inquiry to his presence.

“Mrs. Wardwell, how are you?” Sabrina asks, feeling a little awkward to have been caught by one of the few people who knows he’s headmaster of the school she attends.

“Oh I’m _fine_ , if I’m honest, I think I’m outgrowing Baxter High, it’s been _dull_ as of late,” she says, as if insinuating something to Nick.

“I trust the Institute is all that you’d hoped for?” She inquires, pretending she’s curious though her routine updates from Stolas have kept her attuned to what’s going on at the Institute.

“It’s more,” she says pointedly looking at Nick. “Actually, Father Scratch has been mentoring me on the topics you’d suggested.”

“Sabrina is an exemplary student, already ascending through the Institutes ranks in the short time she’s been with us. I can’t thank you enough for bringing this fine witch to my attention,” Nick says, playing into the lie that Mary Wardwell had spun regarding her arranging his initial meeting of Sabrina. He’s constantly trying to appraise the woman in front of him, knowing that she’s much more than a covenless witch.

His attention turns to Mrs. Wardwell, “I understand you’ve been without a coven for quite some time now, after having left the Church of… _Shadows_ , was it? I’d like to extend an invitation, join us for Black Mass on Sunday at the Church of Lucifer.”

“I’m afraid there’s plenty here in Greendale that keeps me occupied,” Mrs. Wardwell says in an attempt to deflect his invitation.

“I paid a visit to the council the other day, there’s a group of witch hunters that’s headed up east, reports of angelic powers being used. I’m sure you know there’s strength in numbers. I wouldn’t want them to target you, being without a coven leaves you vulnerable.”

“Well I suppose...”

“I could arrange a tour of the Institute while you’re visiting. Surely you mentioning the mundane environment of Baxter High wasn’t a coincidence, I’m currently reviewing candidates for a Divination teaching position at the Institute, and would be willing to consider you should you visit.”

“You make a persuasive argument Father Scratch, I suppose I’ll join you for Mass tomorrow,” Mrs. Wardwell replies, still sizing up the pair. Pleased with what she sees, knowing that the Dark Lord will be immensely proud to hear of this relationship.

“Perfect, we’ll see you then,” Nick replies, taking Sabrina’s hand.

Once they get seated, popcorn in hand, Sabrina smacks his arm, “What was that Nicholas? Inviting my old teacher to the Institute?”

“Didn’t you say you liked her?” He questions with a laugh and a handful of popcorn being brought to his mouth.

“Yes, but there’s something off with her Nick. She’s spied on me through mirrors. _She_ was the one who suggested the exorcism, She gave me the Book of the Dead for the resurrection and helped me enter limbo to get Tommy’s soul back. She claims she was just a follower of my father’s but it feels like there’s so much I’m not being told,” the tone suddenly shifts to something much more serious. Nick has to digest everything she’s said as well.

Sabrina continues, obviously deeply considering the role Mrs. Wardwell has played in all that’s happened, “She told me to sign my name in the Book of the Beast so I could summon hellfire to defeat the Greendale Thirteen,”

Nick reels at that for a minute, “You don’t get the ability to summon Hellfire after signing your name in the Dark Lords book, it doesn’t work like that Sabrina.”

“It did for me, and Mrs. Wardwell seemed sure that it would.”

Nick’s dumbfounded by all of this, how in Hell was Mary Wardwell aware of the fact Sabrina would be able to summon Hellfire if she signed the name in the book. Either she was tasked all of this by the Dark Lord, or she was one of his pawns.

“There are bigger players in this game Sabrina,” Nick says softly, kissing her temple as the movie previews come to an end. _Now we just need to figure out why you’re such an important piece in this godforsaken game._

The movie starts playing, Hitchcock’s _Psycho,_ one of Sabrina’s favorites. Nick enjoys the movie, finding it to be one of the better films he’s seem, but his mind is just mulling over everything regarding Sabrina, Wardwell, and the Dark Lord.

While he’s staring at the screen his mind is working to piece things together. Sabrina has been trying to get his attention to no avail, frustrated, she picks his arm up from the rest and drapes it over her shoulders, snuggling into him.

Nick smiles at the bold move, finding it to be _so very Sabrina._ He kisses the top of her head and kisses the top of her head before attempting to focus on the movie so he can keep a discussion going afterwards.

They’d followed the movie with a heated discussion over a shared milkshake at Dr. Cerberus’. They head back to Sabrina’s place, the clock nearing midnight. Sabrina attempts to be as quiet as possible when entering, pulling Nick in behind her.

They get to her bedroom and Sabrina locks the door behind them, The air is thick and the silence is broken with the soft thud of Sabrina’s jacket hitting the floor, Nick having slipped it off of her.

He stands behind her with his hands rested on top of her hips, he starts to kiss her neck. The gesture starting out sweet but quickly changing to a lust-fueled action with an ulterior motive when he sucks at the nape of her neck, leaving a dozen kisses along her clavicle.

Making his way back up to her head, he nibbles on her earlobe, sending a shiver through her body with warm aftershocks. She moans his name softly in surprise at how much she’s enjoying the combination of hot and cold on her neck and ears.

He gracefully turns her and passionately brings his lips to hers. Sabrina gently parts her lips to deepen it to something more primal. The way their tongues dance and feel each other intoxicating the pair.

She pushes the jacket off of his shoulders, pleased to feel his toned biceps and forearms as she brings her hands back down his arms to meet his own. He moves his hand to her hair, holding her steady, and she’s grateful. The way he kisses her takes away her inhibitions more than any alcohol could.

Sabrina’s nimble fingers make fast work of his shirt, desperately working to unbutton them. He’s slipping out of his shirt. She’s kicking off her heels. Both of them stripping layer after layer until they’re down to their underpinnings.

For the first time, she allows herself to get a really good look at him. The first few times she’s seen him in his underwear, she limited how long she’d stare, feeling somewhat invasive for doing so. But now that she knows what they are, Sabrina takes the opportunity to take in all of what Nick Scratch is. A perfectly sculpted, broad shouldered warlock that looks like a cover model from one of Ambrose’s bodice-ripper novels.

She bites her lip and looks up at him, somewhat nervous under the intense gaze he’s giving her. He moves a loose strand from her face, tucking it back into the rest of her hair. They stand like that for a while, staring at each other until Sabrina can’t take it anymore and just pulls him down to her. Backing up and sitting down on the bed, pulling him on top of her.

She’d done things below the belt with Harvey, but they’d never gotten _there_. She wasn’t even sure if she was ready, but Sabrina knew that she’d take whatever Nick offered her. It’s why she’d taken the precaution of reciting a quick incantation to place a contraceptive ward on herself before their date.

He hovered over her, running his hands down her body, While his lips made work on her exposed chest, kissing the tops of her breasts. He pulls away briefly to gesture to her bra, “may I?”

“Please,” she urges, he reaches beneath the fabric of her bra, freeing them from their underwire cage. He moves his mouth to her nipple, kissing and flicking the nub with his tongue while rubbing circles on the other one, pinching it lightly while softly nipping the other.

Sabrina lets out a little yelp, causing Nick to abandon what he was doing out of concern, “are you okay? I’m sorry...”

“The only thing you’ll need to apologize for is if you don’t go back to exactly what you were just doing,” she says challengingly, if his dick wasn’t hard before, it certainly was now.

She makes a point to moan this time and he moves lower down her body, trailing kisses on her stomach. Placing one over her underwear.

Already wet from his previous ministrations, she’s borderline shaking at the contact. He starts rubbing her over top of her underwear and she finds herself desperate for more pressure.

“Nick, _please,"_ she begs, and it’s enough to make him abandon his teasing. He uses his finger to slip her panties slightly off to the side, exposing her center to him. He looks up at her, a devious smirk playing on his lips before he kisses between her thighs, parting her slit with his tongue, and settling on her clit. She lets of soft mewls of pleasure, urging him to continue his efforts.

She runs her hand through his soft curls and tugs lightly at them, unable to contain herself, the sensations so intense she needed somewhere else to focus, her toes curling as Nick brings about the orgasm that was building for a while.

Clearly satisfied with his work he maneuvers to pay attention to her, gauging her reaction. She gives him a look of adoration and she brings him in for a deep kiss. Pulling away she quips, “I’m not finished with you Nick.”

She straddles him tightly, desperate to feel _him_. She runs her hands down his body, stopping at the witches mark on his shoulder, which she gives a loving kiss. She toys with the waistband of his underwear, slipping fingers under them before working to shimmy them down his legs, freeing his impressive manhood.

She takes a look, then glances back up to look him in the eyes.

“ _Praise Satan,”_ she says flirtatiously, gingerly wrapping her hand around him and giving a small squeeze.

Nick looks amused, yet infatuated. _Ave Satanas indeed._

She moves her head to him, fully intending on giving him a blowjob, though she’s never done it before she’s read up enough that she’s confident she could learn by doing, but when she moves to do it he stops her with his hand,

“No,” he says in a very authoritative voice, causing Sabrina to freeze up. She’s puzzled, initially worried there’s something wrong. All she wants to do is reciprocate the pleasure he gave her. Nick seems to sense this and explains.

“Not tonight, I’m not done with you yet,” he says in a low growl.

Flipping their positions so he’s on top, he removes her underwear completely. Exposing her sex to him again, he starts fingering her.

“Do you touch yourself Sabrina?”

“Yes,” she replies, thinking about the last time she did. The night after they’d gone dancing together, before she’d run off to his place.

“How many fingers do you use?” he asks, and it seems like he’s trying to be considerate more than the question being an odd perversion. Although she’s splayed out in front of him, it still feels like an invasive question and her cheeks flush as a result.

“ _Two_ ,” she replies softly, and somewhat embarrassed. Nervously looking to him for approval.

While he pays special attention to her clit, he inserts two fingers inside of her, causing her to moan at the fullness, almost unprepared when he slips in a third. It was mind-blowing, how incredible it felt, the way his fingers built up the ache between her legs, but soothed it as well.

“I want to make sure you’re ready for me Spellman,” he purrs, sweetly placing a light kiss to her lips.

“I’m ready…. _Please Nick,_ ” she assures him, loving the term of endearment but her need for him overtaking anything else.

He quirks an eyebrow.

“I _need_ you inside of me, Nick,” she pleads against his lips

He uses some of her arousal as lube, as well as his own precum. Moving to align perfectly with her entrance. He thrusts forward, his euphoria growing with each inch that becomes sheathed inside her.  He’s careful and gentle though, taking things slowly.

Checking up with her to make sure she’s okay. She’d initially winced, compared to her usual two fingers, Nick stretches her in a way unlike anything she’s experience before, while uncomfortable at first and wanting to adjust, she suddenly finds herself desperate for friction through the pain. She wraps her hands around his neck, beckoning him to continue.

They find a rhythm that allows Sabrina to relax into the movements, Nick’s name constantly leaving her lips. Sometimes his thrusts fills her to the hilt, others more shallow, as if he’s holding back. Deciding that she’s done with that and wants more than what he’s currently giving her. She wraps her legs around his body, ankles crossed behind him so he’s forced to drive deeper into her, if he wants the movement.

“unholy fuck,” he gasps, grabbing her thighs. Greatly appreciating the new position, Nick kisses her deeply, moaning into her mouth, her own reciprocating the sentiment.

She begs him to continue, cries of _'don’t stop'_ leaving her lips like a prayer she thought he couldn’t hear. When he feels her start pulsate around him, he lets go himself. Previously holding back to make sure she came again, before he could allow himself the same.

Coming down from their respective climaxes, Sabrina can’t believe how otherworldly it felt. _Must be a witch thing._

Sabrina gets up to put on a fresh pair of panties and an oversized t-shirt. Returning to join him, he embraces her tightly, pulling her to him so they’re spooning. He nuzzles his face into her hair and sighs contently.

“You’re incredible Sabrina Spellman,” he says, kissing her neck and wrapping his arm around her tight. She’s sure he can see her satiated smile.

“You’re not so bad yourself _Nicholas Scratch_ ,” teasing while mirroring his remark, snuggling into him.


	10. The Honeymoon Phase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, I updated and finally figured out where I want to go with this story.
> 
> In other news I've made a Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Discord server (invite link: https://discord.gg/VuQt2pN)
> 
> I hope to use it as a fanfiction writing club / authors anonymous AND a general discussion place to gossip about actors and discuss the show. I'm hoping it takes off because I've just been doing the majority of my writing support group in a Bughead discord.
> 
> Also, a light reminder that I have a Pinterest Board for this fic if you're looking to see where I get some of my inspiration from ;)
> 
> https://www.pinterest.com/rayotap/institute-for-the-divine-craft/

Nick is roused from his sleep by someone shaking his entire body. His heart is racing and adrenaline pumps through his veins. Sabrina is scared for him, completely unsure of what to do.

He was nearly sobbing in his sleep, enough that he woke her. She couldn’t bear witness to it any longer, so despite it being six in the morning, she woke him.

When he sees her, he takes her into a tight, loving embrace. Appearing to be in disbelief that she’s right in front of him.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asks, treading softly. While fighting the night terror, he’d been saying her name in a tone that scared her slightly.

He tries to ground himself in an effort to bring himself out of the panic he was just in.

“When I went to visit the Council to appeal Ambrose’s sentence, His Unholy Eminence gave me a task. It’s somewhat akin to the Dark Lord calling on you, but rather than a test of loyalty, it’s usually some type of duty they’re just delegating to you. If you ask for a favor, you do them a favor,” he begins, making a genuine attempt at opening up to her.

“What was the task?”

“I had to take care of some witches. They’d committed high-treason against the Dark Lord. I had to kill them Sabrina...” he murmurs, staring blankly at the ceiling. Ashamed of his actions, and worried as to what she’ll think of him.

“I tried saying no to the Dark Lord… when he called on me. The devils claw just grew bigger and bigger, until he put one on… _Harvey._ He asked me to burn down Baxter High, so I went with a gas can and some matches. He stopped me right beforehand, but I would’ve done it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I understand why you had to do it, and while I don’t like that you did, I don’t think any less of you for it,” Sabrina says, trying to put him at ease and bring him down to earth.

“In my dream… you were one of the witches Sabrina. The Dark Lord was there, spectating the entire thing, and I was either forced to kill you myself, or watch him torture you to a slow one… I could never hurt you Sabrina,” he says softly, still holding her tight.

“ _I_ _know,_ ” she replies, kissing his cheek.

* * *

The car was uncomfortably small for the ride to the institute. Sabrina sat shotgun while Nick drove, but Ambrose was in the backseat with multiple luggage pieces stacked on top of each other.

Sabrina smiled at the sight, if it were anyone else she might make a joke about over packing, but since he hadn’t left the house in over seventy years, she lets it slide. Happy to see him so enthusiastic about life.

There were none of the usual sarcastic remarks, just a starry eyed warlock with his face to the glass, watching the world pass by him.

She reaches over and places a hand on Nick’s thigh, lovingly tracing lazy patterns on his leg. He gives he a flirty smirk and turns up the volume on the radio. Currently blasting an alternative rock CD Sabrina picked out before they left.

“We should go dancing again,” Sabrina says softly, biting her lip at the thought of last time. The air between them becoming charged at the mention.

“Tomorrow night, after mass,” he says, not as a suggestion, but as a definitive plan.

“I can show Ambrose around the institute if you need some time alone to catch up on things,” Sabrina offers and he takes the hand on his thigh, lightly squeezing it to express his appreciation at her offer.

“The city looks incredible, I almost forgot they made buildings this tall,” Ambrose says, referring to the city skyline in front of them.

Crossing the bridge into the city Ambrose looks like he’s on the verge of a panic attack, but they all know better. He’s experiencing freedom for the first time in nearly a century, the hyperventilating is to be expected. When they get to the edge of central park, they quickly unload the car, the multiple hands helping expedite the process.

Nick makes quick work to place a glamour over the car and they all purposefully walk to the Institute. Ambrose is trailing behind slightly, stopping to pet dogs and flirt with whomever will indulge him, Once they get to the building, Sabrina and Nick are outside waiting as Ambrose is currently flirting with a random mortal. They exchange a knowing glance. Sabrina rolls her eyes but Nick wraps an arm around her waist and kisses her temple.

“Ambrose!” Nick calls out to get his attention, immediately snapping him out of it, to rejoin the pair.

They descend the stairs to the institute and Nick veers off to his office, allowing Sabrina to begin giving him a tour of the place, but he returns back quickly with a key for Ambrose and Tobias Scott by his side.

“Tobias, show Ambrose off to his dormitory then bring him back to my office,” Nick commands and gestures to the bags in Sabrina’s hands, having him grab those as well.

“Mrs. Spellman, if you’ll join me for a moment,” he says to Sabrina, keeping up their act while in front of Tobias. Nick crosses his hands behind his back, leading the way to his office.

Sabrina smirks at the sight, judging by the way his fingers are fidgeting, he’s clearly annoyed with having to keep his hands to himself.

Once they get back to the office, closed doors and all, Sabrina pulls his head down to her and kisses him.

“I never took the time to properly thank you... for helping Ambrose,” she starts, looking up to him in adoration.

“I know…. you’ll try to deny it, but you really went out of your way to help him, and I see that. And I know that you had to pay a price for it, but I’m not going to let you carry that burden alone Nick Scratch,” She says squeezing his hand tightly, and placing a chaste kiss on his jaw.

There’s a knock at the office door, and just moments prior they’d ended their little rendezvous with Nick going to sit in his chair, flipping through some books to make it appear like he was actively working for a while.

“Come in.”

The door opens and Tobias comes in with Ambrose in tow.

“I’ll take it from here Tobias,” Sabrina says, ready to go with her cousin.

“Thank you, Father Scratch,” she says pointedly while they leave.

“I didn’t know that you had a cousin coming to the institute,” Tobias remarks, having left with them.

“Actually, he’s now Father Scratch’s full-time assistant…. _and_ research fellow,” Sabrina adds in an attempt to give Ambrose some rank.

“Oh really? So I’ll be training you to steal my job out from under me...” Tobias says jokingly to Ambrose.

“Somewhat, though I don’t think you’ll need to train me.”

“We’ll see about that,” Tobias teases, walking off with a wink.

Sabrina starts to parade Ambrose around the school, walking him through the various classroom hallways, allowing him to peek through the windows. They walk to the conservatory, dining hall, student lounges, greenhouse, music rooms, then finally the libraries.

As they walk through the main library they’re stopped by none other than, “Tabitha.”

Sabrina gives her give a sweet smile.

“who is _this_?” Tabitha asks in a sultry tone before turning to the girls seated at a table behind her and gesturing for them to join the conversation.

“Ambrose Spellman, at your service,” he replies taking her hand in his and kissing the back of her palm.

Ellie, who’d just joined them raises her eyebrows and sizes him up, “just in time for Lupercalia _._ ”

The girls looking like they’re about to devour her cousin, somewhat grossing Sabrina out, she looks away awkwardly as they all fawn over him.

Ambrose, of course, is drinking it all up. The attention bringing him to a state of near euphoria.

“Are you a new student?” Madison asks, beginning the interrogation.

“Actually, I’m Headmaster Scratch’s new assistant,” Ambrose explains as they pet him.

Tabitha gets an annoyed furrow in her brow, “ _I’m Father Scratch’s assistant._ Pray tell Sabrina, did you know of this?”

“I only found out yesterday when he showed up at our house to deliver the news,” Sabrina explains, earning an ounce of Tabitha’s trust back when she looks over Ambrose again.

“Do you happen to know why he’s replacing me?”

“He’s replacing _all_ of the student assistants, he’d rather they focus on their studies rather than perform mindless tasks during class time,” Ambrose explains.

Tabitha bitterly scoffs, she loved the job. It allowed her to serve as the eyes and ears of the Institute, provided a perfect excuse for eavesdropping and the sort. Now without the authority of being the Headmaster’s assistant she feels more vulnerable without the position to wield over the other students.

_Maybe he’s just replacing us with Ambrose so he can just gallivant Sabrina around the Institute without consequence._

Tabitha storms out of the room abruptly, displeased with the situation. She makes a beeline towards Father Scratch’s office and opens the door without knocking, finding him at his desk thumbing through papers.

“Miss Cabot, please have a seat and _knock next time,”_ he says, addressing her without taking his eyes off of the documents in front on him.

She takes a seat with a huff, and he looks up to make eye contact, “you’re not removing me from this station without reason.”

“There _is_ plenty reason, Ambrose Spellman is on parole mandated by the Satanic Council and this position was available for his community service,” Nick says with a bored expression, not wishing to entertain this much longer.

“Keep me on as an assistant, or your relationship with Sabrina won’t be a secret any longer,” she threatens, somewhat disappointed when she doesn’t get the reaction that she expected.

Nick looks exasperated and rolls his eyes, “I’ve already informed the anti-pope, so it’s at Sabrina’s discretion as to whether she’d like her peers to know. If you so _desperately_ wish to keep a role, I’ll name you and Tobias as prefects….” he bluffs the part about the anti-pope, but Tabitha has no way of knowing that.

“A prefecture is acceptable, an honorary induction ceremony would be preferable. We haven’t had a proper celebration in weeks Father,” Tabitha persuades, always negotiating for more.

“Lupercalia is in a month,” he says pointedly.

“A celebratory dinner, nothing too extravagant. I want an excuse for a party where I don’t have to slum it with mortals at some downtown bar,” Tabitha complains.

“Plan it yourself and I’ll sign off on it, and please make sure that Mr. Scott is aware,” Nick says, giving in, not because he cares, but because a party sounds like something that all students could benefit from right about now.

“Thank you Father Scratch,” Tabitha replies, a devious twinkle in her eyes. Suddenly Nick stands to tower over her, his quick shift to an authoritative figure changing the mood completely.

“If you even dare to entertain the idea that your pathetic attempt at extortion had anything to do with my approval, you’re in for a torrid surprise, my child. And should you ever attempt to enter my office again without knocking, you will not be welcome back at the Institute. I am your High Priest and you shall revere me as such.”

His words send a chill down her spine, “I’m so sorry _your excellency_.”

Tabitha cowers out of his office and retreats back to her dorm room, slightly excited for the idea of planning an event, but also humiliated at the interaction.

Sabrina and Ambrose are hanging out in the student lounge together when Tobias, Sophia, and Endicott join the pair, closing in on them.

“He is as cute as you said,” Sophia says teasingly to Tobias as she takes a seat on one of the couches,

“Are you going to join us for mass services tonight Sabrina?” Endicott curiously asks, sizing up Ambrose before he lazily takes a seat on the couch, sprawling out as if he owns the place.

“Absolutely, I was planning on going with Ambrose. It’ll be his first time,” Sabrina mentions excitedly, trying to get him hyped up for the event.

“And your first time wasn’t all that long ago,” Sophia teases with a wink, to which Sabrina’s eyes widen, considering the events of last night. Though in actuality, the implication is being solely placed on the first Satanic confession she took.

“Ambrose would you care to join us for drinks before service?” Tobias asks, and Ambrose has to contemplate whether it’d be a breach of whatever contact he’s under with Father Scratch and the Council.

“Actually Ambr-” Sabrina begins to answer for him but Ambrose cuts her off.

“I’ll have to run it by Father Scratch, my station here is part of my _parole_ ,” Ambrose explains, choosing to be transparent about his situation.

“You were tried in a witch tribunal?” Sophia asks, suddenly very curious at the newly revealed _bad boy_ in front of her.

“Directly before the council,” Ambrose confirms.

“I had a trial about a year after my dark baptism for attempting a necromantic rite at my previous school,” Endicott brags.

“Necromancy? Really?” Sophia asks, as if he’s being dense.

“I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to,.. My best friend’s girlfriend killed herself and he was fucking depressed, I was just trying to be a good friend to get him out of it, but of course there are so many tattle-tale witches with loose lips attempting to improve their rank by being narcs that it had to be escalated… my father got me out of it of course,” Endicott adds, trying to steal some of the thunder to woo Sabrina.

“Thank you for sharing Endicott,” Tobias says in a patronizing tone. Before urging Ambrose to continue.

“Back to the relevant warlock, what did you in Spellman?”

“I was arrested in a plot to blow up the Vatican,” Ambrose says nonchalantly.

“Well it didn’t happen, so how’d you get booked for it?”

“I was the _only_ one apprehended, and I refused to give up the names of my co-conspirators, the council really didn’t like that. They viewed it as insubordination, so I was on house arrest for the past 75 years until Father Scratch offered me the position…”

“What’s he getting out of it?” Sophia asks.

“A handsome warlock at his beck-and-call of course,” Ambrose teases, winking at Sabrina.

Ambrose reports to Nick’s office, getting a task to set up the desecrated church for mass, preparing the various ritual items, and the satanic liturgy.

After he’s completed the chores assigned, he returns to the office with a sheepish approach.

“Father Scratch, I have something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Ambrose starts.

Nick raises an eyebrow questioningly, “I’m listening.”

“I was invited by Tobias to go for drinks prior to the cathedral mass and I was wondering if that would be in violation of any terms of the agreement... “ he says, not trying to get his hopes up.

“You have privileges to roam the city, if the council should question it at some point just say you’re running an errand for me somehow. I don’t care, as long as you’re here when I need you to be and you carry out the basic tasks I’ve assigned you, we’re square. Just don’t leave the island except for Greendale unless I’m with you, those would be harder to explain away...”

Ambrose’s eyes widen in shock and he could nearly bounce with joy.

“Here’s a grocery list, get that done before you go and just drop them off in my fridge upstairs when you’re back,” he’s brought back to reality when he’s given a mundane task, such as grocery shopping.

“Hey cous,” Ambrose greets, standing in the doorway of Sabrina’s dorm.

“I smell an ulterior motive,” Sabrina says, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Father Scratch asked me to go pick up some groceries for him and I could use extra arms to help carry,” Ambrose says with a smile, which despite being a chore, genuinely piques Sabrina’s interest just because she wants to see what exactly is on Nick’s shopping list.

“Fine, but it’s only because I need to teach you how to shop,” Sabrina says with a laugh.

“Excuse you, just because I was on house arrest doesn’t mean that I don’t know how to shop, where do you think all of my silk robes came from?”

“That’s online, when is the last time you’ve been inside a grocery store?” Sabrina asks, and he falls silent.

“That’s what I thought...” she says with a self-satisfied smirk.

They walk out of _Zabar’s_ Grocery with multiple bags on each arm.

“I don’t know how he expects to eat all of this before it could spoil,” Sabrina remarks.

“Maybe he’s cooking for two?” Ambrose suggests and Sabrina rolls her eyes briefly before actually considering it, her heart beats a little faster at the thought and she’d be lying if she didn’t like the idea of having a break from the dining hall.

They take the back way into the institute, using the passage that Nick previously used to skip the main entrance, streamlining their trip to his apartment.

Sabrina opens the door to his apartment and they both go up the stairs and start unpacking things into the fridge and pantry. With Nick not having been in his office or apartment, Sabrina couldn’t help but wonder where he currently was. That wonder is quickly laid to rest when she sees him exit the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel draped loosely around his waist.

Sabrina feels an intense wave of desire hit her, she lazily waves her cousin off, “Ambrose, you need to go… like _now.._ ”

Nick’s attention is draw from the slamming of his door, realizing it must have been Ambrose. Until he looks over to the kitchen and sees Sabrina sitting on top of his countertop.

“Well, aren’t you just a Hellsend Spellman,” Nick says, making his way over to her.

After having greeted her with a sweet peck on the lips, he turns away.

“Let me get dressed,” he says walking off, only stopping in his tracks at her words.

“ _Or,_ I could get undressed,” she suggests, taking her sweater off and making her way to him. Like a lion hunting its prey, she was going to eat him alive.

He stares as she stands in front of him in her bralette, skirt, tights, and mary jane heels.

“You’re going to have to strip even more if you want to get even.”

Sabrina rids herself of her skirt, revealing that she wasn’t wearing _tights,_ actually revealing sheer black thigh highs and a garter belt _._

 _“That,_ you can leave on,” Nick comments as she approaches him to capture his lips in a fiery kiss.

Pulling away she smirks, “Don’t tell me what to do, I’m calling the shots right now.”

 _Fuck._ His thought process is notably absent with a string of expletives running through his brain as Sabrina runs her hands all over his body before undoing the towel wrapped at his waist.

She pushes him down on to the bed, and runs her finger tips along his length. Extremely pleased with the fact he was already hard for her.

Kneeling over him, she swirls her tongue around his tip, gripping the lower part of his shaft with her hand to hold him in place.

His eyes are torn between staring at the girl in front of him and rolling back in his head. Her hot wet mouth on his cock is almost too much to handle, and the thigh highs are torturous.

His heavy breathing is enough for her to reward him with a slow, deepthroat. She continues with her ministrations, bobbing her head up-and-down on his gorgeous cock. When he attempts to run his hand through her hair, grabbing it by the roots to give himself more control, she pulls off of him abruptly.

“I can stop if you want to do it yourself,” she says, reminding him that she’s the one in charge by threatening him into submission. Nick quickly retracting his hands and keeping them to himself.

She returns back to take his cock in her mouth, using more suction this time and working the section of his shaft she can’t fit inside her with her other hand.

Not being a stranger to blowjobs given his previous promiscuity, he’s had himself inside of more mouths than he’d be willing to admit to her. But so far, this was the best blowjob he’d ever been given. Maybe it was just because it was Sabrina, but letting go and letting her take control is probably the biggest reason.

She surprises him by straddling him, and grabbing his wrists with a hand, holding them together above his head. Realistically, he could overpower her in a second, but allowing her to have this control over him, to do whatever she please, was the hottest fucking thing, _ever._

She slips her underwear to the side, and he’s desperate to touch her. Practically on the verge of begging, She positions herself on top of him, his tip positioned right at her entrance while she teases him by lowering down just a little bit, only to pull right back off, he lets out a groan at the loss of contact. It’s fucking torture.

“Please, Sabrina,” Nick begs, needing the contact more than anything.

 _“I need you to be specific,”_ she says softly, giving him an open mouth kiss but pulling away to hear his reply.

“Sabrina, I need to be inside of you. So fucking bad, please, let me feel you,” he pleads to her delight.

She lowers herself fully onto him, hilt deep and he lets out a shaky moan. Nearly, overcome by the pleasure of being inside of her.

“ _Fuck babe,_ ” he says, staring at her, the adoration in his gaze evident to her.

She starts riding him, providing the friction and movement he’s desperately craving, while still holding him down, sending the message that if he tries anything there’d be consequences.

She stops moving and rests on top, with him still inside her.

“Why’d you stop?” he asks needily, concerned that if she’s really done this is the only thing he’ll be able to think about for the rest of the night.

“I need you to listen carefully, you’re going to get on top of me and screw me until I’m unable to walk, then you’re going to cum inside me, and carry me to Black Mass. _You know, since I won’t be able to walk._ Then while you’re giving your sermon, you’ll be forced to think about how I’m standing there, watching you, while everyone around us is oblivious to the fact that in a twisted way, you’re still inside me..”

He lets out a guttural moan and flips their position with a desperate haste. Rubbing her clit with his thumb, proves to be difficult with the roughness of each thrust meaning that he’s constantly having to re-calibrate his thumb to the right place.

Each time he’s filling her to the hilt, able to feel the tip of his dick hit her cervix and being rewarded with small cries of pleasure each time.

“ _Nick,_ ” she warns, digging her nails into his back as she rides her climax out. Nick doesn’t let up on his end, each thrust unforgiving and bringing another uncontrollable wave over Sabrina. She quivers involuntarily underneath him.

His climax which has been building for the past half hour hits him with an intensity he’s never experienced before. The constant denial and edging Sabrina put him through making it one of the most extraordinary things he’s felt in his life.

He feels completely drained, but weightless at the same time. Laying on his side facing Sabrina while she holds her palm flat against his chest, he kisses her forehead while he attempts to become articulate enough to express how incredible that was.

Meanwhile, Sabrina’s internal monologue is somewhere in between _‘I can’t believe I said that’_ and _‘i think I love him?’_

With Harvey, it was different. She knew she was in love with him, and they’d never had sex. With Nick it was all so magnetic, as if something stronger than life itself was bringing them together. They’d had sex before any _I love you_ ’s were spoken, but it all felt so right, until now.

 _Now,_ there’s a knot in her chest that pulls tighter each time she looks at him. She knows she loves Nick, yet she finds herself worried about how things would change if he didn’t say it back. She hugs him tighter to squash whatever doubt was building up inside of her.

 _“I don’t want to go to mass,”_ Nick admits softly.

“I want to lie in sin by your side until night consumes us,” he whispers in her ear, nibbling on her earlobe before he pulls away.

“There’s no Mass without you, _Father Scratch,_ ” she says, emphasizing his title.

“Fine,” he says, begrudgingly getting up off the bed to get dressed. While Sabrina put her sweater and skirt back on.

Once he’s all dressed he comes to the bedside and picks her up bridal style.

“I was just teasing about the carrying part by the way, I was just trying to get you worked up,” Sabrina says jokingly to get him to get her down.

He takes her in for a deep kiss and murmurs against her mouth, “well it fucking worked.”

Gently setting her down, he kisses her once more, ”I can see myself spending a few centuries with you Sabrina Spellman.”

Overcome by his statement she grasps his face to ensure he’s staring at her, “I love you Nick.”

She almost starts rambling about how she understands that he might not be ready to say it back and how she knew what she got into with him given that witches aren’t great with true love and all that, but she doesn’t have to.

“I’m in love with you, Sabrina Spellman,” he says sincerely, his gaze unwavering and real. They both meet in a passionate kiss, one that almost convinces Nick to ditch his church obligations entirely until Sabrina pulls away and heads for the door.

“If I didn’t stop there, we never would’ve left this room and you know it,” she says with a knowing smile.

“Would that be such a bad thing?” he teases, smacking her butt as they head out.

* * *

Nick heads straight for the desecrated church while Sabrina fetches Ambrose from his dorm, figuring they could walk to the service together.

When Ambrose emerges from his room, he eyes Sabrina up and down, before they walk to the church.

“I must say, you have a very nice Afterglow cous’,” Ambrose comments, causing Sabrina to be mortified and slap his arm.

“It’s _not_ afterglow, or whatever that even is,” Sabrina defends with an eyeroll.

“Fine, after I take one look at Father Scratch I’ll make my determination,” Ambrose says cheekily.

Once they get to the church and they enter the pew, Sabrina lets out a content sigh, finally she can say there’s someone at the institute who has her best interests at heart, now with Ambrose there’s another.

She lets out a gasp when she looks back to the archway, seeing none other than Mrs. Wardwell standing there. Looking intimidating in her shift dress and stilettos.

She scans the room quite obviously and approaches the pair once she recognizes him.

“Mrs. Wardwell, what a pleasure to see you,” Sabrina says, forcing a smile.

“Sabrina, Ambrose, mind if I sit?” she asks,

“Go right ahead,” Ambrose replies, scooting over to create space for her on the end.

”Something seems different about you… Sabrina,” she says appraising the young witch before her. Running a finger down her body as if she’s attempting to figure out what it is. It wasn't Mrs. Wardwell making this appraisal, rather _Lilith_ had noticed Sabrina's new aura. After all, cultures had worshiped her as a God of sexuality for millennia.

This causes, Ambrose to burst out in laughter, Mrs. Wardwell’s assessment striking a chord with him due to his earlier mentioning of Sabrina’s radiant appearance. Mrs. Wardwell raises a curious eyebrow while Ambrose attempts to regain his composure.

When Nick approaches the pulpit, every witch in the room rises, and the tone shifts from social to satanic, everyone hanging onto his every word.

Lilith is taken aback by the service, though she’d fibbed about her previous coven, she’d attended many black mass services, and this was unlike anything she’d experienced.

The man at the front of the room commanded his congregation in a way she’d never seen before, of any High Priest. With every word spoken she begins to understand why exactly the Dark Lord wanted Sabrina and Nick together.

It was a final offer for Lilith, to get the wheels turning on Sabrina and Nick’s courtship so that they together may oversee his earthly kingdom, then she may finally return to Lucifer’s side to rule over the underworld as King and Queen of Hell, while Nicholas and Sabrina were to bring about the witches’ renaissance on earth.

Sabrina’s nature was not a mistake or a special exception, it was a command directly from the Dark Lord, having called on Edward Spellman, the most powerful witch of his time, to fulfill a prophecy. Unbeknownst to the young witch, Sabrina was the true child of Lucifer, both mortal and infernal blood coursing through her nephilim veins.

Nick was the opposite, though he hasn’t realized the full scope of his powers, he’s the most powerful warlock that’s walked this earth. His unfortunate childhood as a orphan wasn’t coincidental either, the Dark Lord has been molding him to fit his image since he was born, taking it upon himself to bestow a satanic name on the newborn before killing his parents. Even naming the warlock after a pseudonym of his own, Nicholas Scratch while lacking infernal blood, was the closest thing to a son Lucifer Morningstar has.

Sabrina was soon to come into her own, the perversions of Christ’s miracles would continue, so Lilith could ensure sure that they both would bring about a new era.

Their union would bring about the merging of two separate worlds, and bring about an unparalleled period of procreation within the witch population, boosting their numbers to craft a perfect army for the Dark Lord.

After mass, before Lilith has the chance to slip out, she’s stopped by Father Scratch, who greets her with a charismatic smile, “I’m thrilled that you were able to join us Sister Wardwell.”

_Sister? How presumptuous of him…_

“Well, it wouldn’t have been wise to pass up such an opportunity,” she says, now walking by his side. Sabrina and Ambrose trail behind them to eavesdrop.

“I have a cathedral mass to give, if you’d like to join I’ll escort you, though I’ve taken the liberty of having a room prepared for you, that is if you’d still like the interview and tour tomorrow,” he says, making her feel special, as if she were the only person in the room that mattered.

It sparks something within her, looking at the delicious warlock in front of her. If he wasn’t so imperative to her own goals, she’d devour him in a second. Lilith always had a penchant for man-eating. Perhaps, she’d go street walking for some long pig after dark.

“I’m quite tired, though I appreciate your offer. I’ll turn in for the night,” she says, genuinely wishing to get some rest.

Sabrina and Ambrose reconvene with Tobias, Sophia, and Endicott, heading to _le Salon du Magique_ for a drink before the cathedral service.

Ambrose revels in the freedom and attention. Ordering drink after drink, much like Sabrina’s first time at _le Salon._ Unlike her first time, Sabrina knows to pace herself.

Ambrose goes just as hard as Sabrina did her first visit, though thanks to the years of wallowing and drinking out of self-pity, Ambrose can handle his alcohol. The attention of other witches? Not so much. He’s already putty in Tobias’ and Sophia’s hands. The two of them taking time to seduce her cousin, causing Sabrina to drink over at a separate couch with Endicott.

“I must say Sabrina, you look ravishing tonight,” Endicott says, eyeing her hungrily.

“Oh, I’ve _been ravished_ tonight,” Sabrina says, her inhibitions lowered with the alcohol and Nick being the only thing on her mind.

“By who?” Endicott asks, genuinely curious as he’s never seen her cozy up with any warlocks at the academy.

“ _The Dark Lord..._ ” Sabrina says teasingly, taking a sip of her drink and going to pry her cousin away from the wandering hands of Tobias and Sophia. Endicott takes her answer an interpretation of her newfound devotion to the church.

“Guys, we have to get going if we want to get to the Cathedral on time,” Sabrina whines slightly, leaving no doubt that she is, in fact, a teenager.

As they walk down the street, Endicott wraps an arm around Sabrina’s waist. She looks at him in shock and slaps his arm, “get off of me.”

“You now there’s something between us Sabrina, don’t deny the pull...” he says in an attempt at seducing her, she just scoffs and swerves away from his physical advances.

Endicott rolls his eyes at her actions, “you’ll give in soon enough.”

Once they get to the cathedral, there’s still about ten minutes before mass starts so Sabrina retreats to the restroom to hide from Endicott’s badgering. She considers just telling him that Nick is her boyfriend, knowing that it’s a surefire way to get him to shut up. Instead of confrontation, she just moves pews and sits towards the front. Feeling somewhat bad about leaving Ambrose to the wolves, she dismisses it as she knows he can hold his own.

When Nick starts the sermon she’s glad that she’s started studying Latin in her free time, pleased that she’s able to comprehend most of what he’s saying without using a polyglot potion. Once the service has ended, she sneaks off to the back of the cathedral, making eye contact with Nick before walking off so he knows to meet her. Ducking behind a pillar she pops out when she sees him, Pulling him to her, so they’re both obscured by the column.

She brings him to a passionate kiss, “compelling sermon, as usual _Father Scratch._ ”

He smiles brightly at her compliment, meaning the most coming from her. She lets out a yawn, covering her mouth as quick as possible, “let’s get you to bed.”

They walk through a back passageway, obscured by a protective ward, that feeds directly to his office. Once they get back to the apartment she starts lovingly undressing him before excusing herself, “do you mind if I take a shower?”

“Do you mind if I join you?” he counters, causing her to blush.

The pair heads into the bathroom, both stripping down while he gets the shower stream to an appropriate temperature. Stepping under the hot stream of water, he lets Sabrina get sprayed by the majority of it, starting to gently lather soap into a washcloth and washing her back.

The moment of non-sexual intimacy making her fall even deeper for him, She pulls Nick under the stream, so he can wet his hair. She starts to shampoo his curls, running her hands through his locks and massaging his scalp. Taking some of the soap from his hair, she smears some of the soap foam on his nose, giggling at her own antics.

“You’re adorable,” he says, unable to fight his own amusement.

She takes the washcloth from him and starts to wash his torso. Looking up at him with a curious glint in her eyes without saying anything.

“ _What?_ ” he questions.

“So, do these abs happen naturally or did you use magic?”

He brings her in for a smooch, “you’re such a dork. I do workout though...”

“And I have yet to witness it, what a shame...” she jokingly admonishes.

Finishing up their shower, Sabrina and Nick take the opportunity to exist in domestic bliss for a night. The fireplace crackling, and a turntable playing something slow _._ While Nick attempts to teach her some actual dance steps.

“I take back what I’ve said, you’re a _terrible_ dancer,” Nick teases her.

“I’ve never had a proper dance lesson, I just move to the music, which as served me well… up until now,” she says in defense.

“We’ll get you waltzing in no time Spellman,” he says, kissing her forehead before hoisting her up and carrying her to the bed. Shutting off all of the lights in the room, before slipping under the covers and holding her tight.


	11. The Prefects

Sabrina’s demonology lecture is interesting per usual, Professor Kraft covering demonic possessions in 19th century France through individually assigned case studies is much more interesting than any assignment she’d encounter at Baxter High, or even the Academy for that matter.

She heads to the library to do some research when she sees Tabitha dominating two tables, with a variety of papers and plans spread out on top of it. Her curiosity gets the better of her so Sabrina approaches the table.

“What’s all this?”

“Father Scratch has appointed Tobias and I as prefects of the school. Naturally, I’m in charge of event planning for the appointment ceremony and I’ve got everything planned out. It’s a little heavier on the partying aspect than the ceremony, but I don’t think your _boo_ would care too much,” Tabitha says, catching Sabrina off-guard.

“Wait… _you know_ ? _How?_ ”

“Well when I was Father Scratch’s _assistant,_ I _walked in_ on the two of you in his office. I attempted to blackmail him to keep the assistant position so I could still have some semblance of authority over everyone else here, which is where the prefecture position came from. I understand your cousins situation but I’d rather be a feared leader than a beloved colleague, which is why I had to bargain for _something,_ ” Tabitha says spitefully.

“What do you think about this?” She says, switching personalities again. Asking for Sabrina’s opinion on decorations for the main hall.

“That looks beautiful, but why did you feel like you had to resort to extortion? If you would’ve just asked I’m sure that Nick would hav-”

“Thanks. But let me clarify something for you, the _Father Scratch_ you see, is dramatically different from what everyone else at the Institute gets. Sure he’s the _cool headmaster_ , but I don’t think you’re grasping how powerful he is. If you would’ve spent some time asking around about him rather than playing it cool to keep people off of your tracks, you’d understand. Not everyone has him wrapped around their little finger...” she says trailing off.

Sabrina might not know everything about his history, but the way Tabitha insinuates that Sabrina doesn’t _really_ know him irks her. “If you don’t think I know what I signed up for, you’re mistaken. I’ve watched Nick kill in the name of the Dark Lord. He’s arguably the best binder and conjurer in existence, so if you think I’m unaware of his power _._ I’ve _experienced_ it firsthand _… by the way,_ I have him wrapped around much more than my finger,” Sabrina retorts with heat. Walking off to the stacks to find the book she came in to get in the first place, though the title has suddenly escaped her mind.

* * *

Nick sits down with Mrs. Wardwell for a while, having a long conversation in regards to her previous experience with divination. Her skill-set and knowledge on the subject was extremely impressive, the theoretical situations that had stumped some of the other candidates, seemed to come easily to her. She’d articulated her approach with grace and even if there was more to Mary Wardwell than met the eye, she was obviously a skilled educator. He can see why she was Sabrina’s teacher at Baxter High, even if it was in something as mundane as a mortal literature course.

“I’m formally extending you an offer to teach at the Institute, consider it and respond at your earliest convenience. I understand if you have to provide your mortal institution with some kind of notice.”

“No need for that Headmaster Scratch, I’ll accept the position,” Mrs. Wardwell replies.

“As for your living situation, would you require board at the Institute or would you prefer elsewhere?”

“I don’t require lodging Father Scratch, I sincerely appreciate you extending the offer,” she says.

“I do need to head back to Greendale to get some affairs in order but I intend to return by Thursday,” she says, her mind clearly somewhere else.

“We’ll see you on Thursday then,” Nick offers and Mrs. Wardwell apparates out of the classroom, setting the rug where she was standing on fire in her wake. _That’s not fucking normal._

Nick puts out the flame with a quick spell and rubs his forehead in frustration, wondering what the Hell he’d just gotten himself into by hiring her.

He figures if she’s an enemy, it’s better to have her working under his nose rather than from afar, but if she’s something more, he’s not sure what her stake here is. Other than _Sabrina._

* * *

 

At dinner, Tabitha has a variety of witches extending beyond her normal posse, kissing at her feet. Everyone seeming to be delighted at the fact she was able to secure a party for friday.

Tobias sits smugly at her side, thanks to his help they were able to get the main hall for the ceremony while holding the after party festivities at _le Salon du Magique_ thanks to Tobias’ connection with the lounge’s proprietor.

Sabrina sits there, lazily pushing her vegetables around on her plate. Ambrose pushes the witch to her right over, squeezing in next to Sabrina.

“ _Now, now._ What would Aunt Hilda say about playing with your food?” Ambrose teases, eliciting an eye-roll from the witch.

“Well, Aunt Hilda isn’t here is she?” Sabrina replies.

“The Institute has created somewhat of a rebellious streak in you... but it’s not the usual teenage angst you usually exude,” Ambrose remarks and Sabrina scoffs.

“I’m pushing around vegetables on my plate,” Sabrina deadpans, not sure where he’s going with whatever it is he’s attempting to say.

“You know I’m not talking about the vegetables. You’re growing _dark_ , cousin,” Ambrose says.

“I’m not _dark,_ ” she says back in a hushed tone.

“It’s not a bad thing… You seem to have become more dedicated to the path of night since joining the institute _, for obvious reasons._ But other than that, I like this change. I’m not judging you, I never have, but when you were keeping close ties with the mortals it seems as if there was a twisted righteousness in you that separated us. Now, however, we’re not so different. I like not having to question whether you’ll do something erratic that would cause the Dark Lord to wreak havoc on the Spellman family bloodline.”

“Ambrose,” she says softly, knowing full well that what he said in regards to her sense of self-righteousness was true.

“I know you saw it in Zelda’s approval of you and _him,_ but I can tell she’s proud of you Sabrina. That’s something you should take pride in yourself,” her continues, taking a large bite of an apple in front of him.

Ellie sends him flirtatious glances from across the table, “ _I wish I was that apple_.”

“Can we get back to the party planning? _Please!_ ” Tabitha snaps, causing Ellie to get up and leave, another eager witch quickly filling the vacant seat to hear more about Tabitha’s plans for the upcoming event.

Ambrose gets up and follows Ellie, leaving Sabrina be. She quickly gets up and retreats but not without scrutiny from Tabitha, “See you at Black Mass Sabrina!”

She walks to Nick’s office, lightly knocking on the door before he calls out to let herself in. A happy expression overtakes his features, smiling at her like it’s the best day of his life.

She nearly runs over to him, climbing into his lap and sitting across his legs. Greeting him with a string of kisses before taking note of everything sprawled out on his desk.

“What is this?” she asks curiously and he chuckles at her starry-eyed enthusiasm.

“Plans for the coven’s Lupercalia festivities, since the institute’s location is so _urban_ , I’ve had to scout out a location for the hunt, the place we went last year is unfortunately off-limits due to the actions of _some students_. So, I’ve found a place about an hour outside of the city, a historic inn, surrounded by woods. _Witch owned-and-operated_.”

“It’s gorgeous,” she says looking over the pictures he has laid out.

“About that, I was wondering if you might want to take a raincheck on the matching ceremony and just spend it together?” Nick asks, an adorable bit of nerves seeping through.

“As if I could say no to you,” she replies kissing his cheek.

“I’m glad you find me irresistible,” he flirts, attempting to give her a kiss but is stopped when she takes his face in her hands and moves her lips to his ear.

“You may be _Master of the Hunt,_ but I still intend on _hunting_ you,” she whispers in his ear, which he responds to with a low growl of approval.

“After all, it’s my first Lupercalia, I have to do _something_ by the book. And if it’s you then so be it,” she says with a loving smile, petting his hair in a loving way.

* * *

After Mass ends, Sabrina heads to her Nick’s place, attempting to be smarter than last time by changing in his apartment rather than draw unwanted attention to herself with a dressy outfit.

She changes into black skinny jeans and a maroon off the shoulder top.  When Nick enters the apartment, he makes a beeline towards Sabrina, picking her up by the waist before setting her down and planting a kiss on her lips.

“You look perfect,” he says, beginning to change out of his clothing as well. Changing into a considerably more casual outfit.

After leaving the institute, Nick- being her guide to the city- leads them to another promising club. Another line out the door that they’re able to bypass, and another moment she finds herself in awe of Nicholas Scratch.

She loves that this time he’s able to be much more affectionate, leading her through the crowd with a hand on the small of her back. When they get drinks she only has one, comfortable enough around him that she doesn’t feel obligated to loosen up. Even doing something as mundane as ordering drinks, Sabrina can’t seem to keep her hands off of him.

Before Nick even has a chance to finish off his second drink, Sabrina’s dragging him out to the dance floor. Their movements confirming that the first time wasn’t just a stroke of luck, they really fit together perfectly.

While there’s obvious sexual tension in the activity to begin with, she begins testing limits at times, deliberately brushing against _him_ , and keeping their bodies as close as possible. Almost an hour passes, and Sabrina seriously begins to regret leaving the Institute. With the two of them sweaty and invigorated, all she wants to do is rip the shirt off his body, which isn’t exactly an option where they currently are.

Sabrina expresses this to him in a whisper, which causes Nick to hastily part the crowd between them and the door, their rushed efforts to leave getting a few curious looks from bystanders.

Finally reaching his apartment, they’re both caught between the acts passionate kissing and rushing to strip themselves of their clothes. Eventually they end up in a desperate mess of entangled limbs of his bed. Neither one of them taking the time to savor the experience as they normally would, it’s something more carnal, but desperately needed.

She lies on top of him running her fingers over his chest. The two of them are both still breathing heavily.

“I really _needed_ that,” she confesses and Nick is quick to agree.

“How does a hot bath sound?” he asks, referring to the large soaking tub in his room.

Sabrina smiles in delight, she’d been meaning to ask during previous visits, but always got distracted. The communal bathrooms at the Institute were the only thing that left her longing for home, shower shoes weren’t really her speed.

“That sounds perfect,” she sings happily,

Nick casts a quick spell, causing water to pour out of the tubs spicket and the candles sitting on the perimeter of the bathtub to light up. She kisses his cheek, clearly pleased.

He’s just as smitten, despite them already having exchanged _I love you_ ’s, it really hits him how deep he’s in with her now. He’d do anything to keep that satisfied smile on her face.

Thinking back to their past interactions, he considers how he’d initially said that he’d give anything for half of what she’d had with the mortal. Now that they’re in a relationship though, he realizes that what he and Sabrina have now, is far greater than any mortal love.

He watches as she slightly flinches at the heat of the water when she first tries getting in.

“I’ll wait for it to cool off,” she says, sending him a look of resignation.

He chuckles and casts another spell manipulating the water’s temperature so it’s just perfect.

“Your power often makes me forget how new you still are to all of this,” he confesses, gently caressing her cheek before getting in the tub, joining her.

“Thanks, I guess...” Sabrina says, not really sure what to say in response.

“Don’t think twice about it. It’s a simple fix, whenever there’s something that mildly inconveniences you, just ask yourself _is there a magical solution?_ And if there is, use it. The Dark Lord blessed us with this incredible power, placing us above mortals. I’m a firm believer we should do whatever we want to make our lives easier, it’s nice not having to deal with the trivial issues mortals face.”

Sabrina gives him a curious look before moving to kiss him. She was starting to like how indulgent he always was, a prodigal warlock. Her status as a half-mortal had made her apprehensive about using magic in every aspect of her life, prior to the institute she was always worried about getting caught, now she couldn’t help but feel like his cavalier attitude about witchcraft was rubbing off on her. That was part of what had drawn her to him in the first place, the way he was never apprehensive about anything. Nick always just took what he wanted, and his confidence managed to get everyone around him to just follow his lead without question.

“Nick… How exactly did you become High Priest?” she eagerly questions. He smiles, thinking of how her starry eyed curiosity and constant desire to learn everything she can was one of his favorite things about her.

“When I was at the Academy, I was top boy… _for nine years in a row._ Basically, by constantly studying and staying at the top of the school’s rank I was able to get people to respect and follow my lead. People naturally like being around successful and powerful individuals. Then as your father was gunning for the title of High Priest, I did everything I could to help spread his message. I’m sure you know, but your father was a very influential warlock, so being his right hand man allowed me to meet some very powerful witches and make the connections that eventually led to this appointment,” he says, sharing a bit of his past with her.

“What were you doing before you came to the Institute?”

“I taught conjuration courses for a few years at a witches academy in London, after that I went and explored some aboriginal witch populations in Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. It was certainly interesting to see different communities and how they practiced, some follow strict moral codes, whereas others are revered as religious leaders in their blended communities, mortals and witches living side by side without conflict… A lot of witches I encountered actually aren’t followers of the Dark Lord, never having signed his book but still able to practice witchcraft… to an extent.”

“Wait, so I didn’t have to sign my name in his book?” Sabrina asks, starting to look angry.

“It’s an option, but not a desirable one… Our power is _infernal_. Their existence is closer to that of mortals, short lifespans, significantly less powerful magic. Demons have wiped out entire covens of witches that don’t follow the path of night, they’re strong enough to summon one, but once they do, their powers are insufficient to ward them off, so they usually succumb. That’s why a lot of them are just simple wood witches, sticking to herbalism, healing, and potion making.”

“So were you there on a mission to convert them or what?”

“Not exactly, it’s more of a research trip. Watching how they behave, if they’re developing in any ways. It’s significantly harder than you’d expect with these populations, they’re usually set in their ways. In many cases they’re extremely fearful of the Dark Lord. The best case scenario for converting non-satanic witches to follow the Path of Night is pulling them from university. When these witches are able to leave their small towns and meet others like them, who are much more powerful, it tends to ignite a jealousy where they want to figure out how they can get that power as well. Then I’d say it’s about an eighty percent success rate of signing their name in the Book. the other twenty just can’t seem to get over the idea of _selling their soul to the devil_ ,” Nick says with an incredulous chuckle.

“Ridiculous, right?”

“Is that not what I did when I signed my name away?”

“Well, your soul has always belonged to him, being born a witch gives you no choice in the matter. But by signing his Book, and professing your willingness to serve, the Dark Lord rewards us with much greater power. Besides, regardless of whether you sign your name in his Book, a witches very existence repulses the False God, so since you face eternal damnation anyways, why not enjoy it and avoid Hellfire?” Nick points out.

“So I really didn’t have a choice at all...” she mutters feeling disheartened.

“You had a choice Sabrina, but there’s only one right choice, and I thank the Dark Lord every single night that you made the right one, otherwise I would have never met you… and I doubt I ever would’ve learned what love is without you,” he says.

“Nicholas...” She starts, overcome with emotion. Any previous sadness quickly dissipating as she gazes into the eyes of the beautiful warlock before her.

“I’m sure you’ve heard _rumors…_ and I’m not denying them. Before meeting you, I always felt like I was capable of nothing more than lust. _But now?_ I love you, Spellman. You’ve taught me how to love,” Nick confesses, prompting Sabrina to take him in a passionate embrace, kissing the night away.

* * *

The following days go on business-as-usual. By the time Thursday rolls around, the Institute is buzzing with excitement for the Prefect’s party. Tabitha has managed to hype it up to otherworldly standards.

Ambrose had spent the good majority of the early morning calling up various magic bookstores to procure certain texts that Father Scratch has been searching for. When he started, Nick had given him a list of texts and books that he’d do anything to get, which Ambrose has made his personal mission for the past three days. Yesterday he got a rare journal, detailing a firsthand account of a warlock who’d managed to have been the sole survivor after their large coven had been attacked by witch hunters.

He’s managed to follow a lead to get an ancient potions book, though he’s been fighting with the bookstore’s proprietor for the past hour on the price. Nick ultimately told him to disregard cost but Ambrose has been having fun yanking the poor bookkeeper’s chain. After arguing for another ten minutes, the book magically appears on Nick’s desk. Ambrose letting out a satisfied chuckle, “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

Nick comes into his office from his room, dressed a bit more formal than usual.

“I’m calling an assembly in the main hall to welcome Mary Wardwell to the Institute. I gave Tabitha and Tobias the responsibility yesterday but Satan knows if they’ll actually have been successful in corralling a few hundred witches,” Nick explains, gesturing for Ambrose to trail him.

“Sabrina didn’t stay with you last night?” Ambrose asks curiously, albeit a little inappropriate, Nick lets things slide for Ambrose since she’s his cousin.

“She complained she had too much work for ritual binding, and that I’d be too much of a _distraction,_ ” he explains with a laugh, his demeanor instantly changing once they exit the office.

Students are filing into the Main Hall, as he enters the room, every witch rises to their feet. He sees Mrs. Wardwell has already made herself comfortable among the other faculty and staff, sitting amongst them at the front of the room.

Nick heads to the front, stepping up onto the riser that is used as a stage for occasions such as this. Once he’s standing at the front, addressing the crowd, he gestures for all of them to lower down in their seats.

“This has been an eventful week for the Institute this far, I’ve called this assembly, to introduce our newest faculty member,” he begins, gesturing to her to stand and bask in the applause of the eager students..

“This is Mrs. Mary Wardwell, she’ll be lending us her expertise on divination, effective today, she’ll be administering daily lectures on the topic in the auditorium for our more advanced students. Tomorrow, as I’m sure all of you know, is the Prefecture appointment ceremony, followed by a reception at _Le Salon du Magique._ The ceremony will be held in the desecrated church, in lieu of Black Mass services. That’s all I have for you this morning, _Ave Satanas._ ”

WIth that a choir of _Ave Satanas_ echoes throughout the hall, Nick leading the procession of people attempting to exit.

Sabrina watches in distaste as Adeline, Ellie, and Madison openly gawk at Nick.

“ _The things I’d do to that man_ ,” Adeline begins, trailing off with a dirty gesture.

Tabitha shoots Sabrina a sympathetic look, despite their small rifts as of late, they still get along well.

The exam they’re given in Demonology is a breeze for Sabrina, theoretical scenarios regarding how to summon certain demons, what their weaknesses are, etc. She’s able to leave class early and head to her dorm, reviewing all of her notes regarding physical apparition that she’s taken in the past few weeks.

She decides that today is going to be it, where she asks to do some sort of practice with physical apparition. She approaches Nick at the end of class to run it by him.

“Hey,” she approaches him sheepishly, obviously fighting the urge to throw herself into his arms since there are still some witches filtering out of the classroom.

“ _Ms. Spellman,_ Is there something I can help you with?”

“Can we have a lesson before dinner? I want to attend Ms. Wardwell’s lecture, but I was wondering if we could practice _apparition_...” she says a little nervously, hoping that Nick is on the same page as her. She feels ready, but she’s also worried that he could let their relationship cloud his judgement as to whether she’s actually ready, now that he cares so much about her.

“I think I can pencil you in,” he teases with a smirk.

“Great, I’ll head straight to your office after divination?”

“I’ll see you then Sabrina.”

* * *

Mrs. Wardwell had a completely different teaching style when it came to magical affairs. In her mortal studies, she was very relatable, making the concepts easily digestible while being able to have her students feel like the content she was lecturing on was actually applicable to their lives.

With divination, she was a staunch traditionalist. Everything by the book and dense, definitely requiring additional reading outside of class time just to catch up on the concepts she covered. Sabrina considers staying after to ask additional questions, but she’s so excited to meet with Nick that she decides against it. Figuring that if she really wanted to know she could just ask tomorrow or run it by Nick.

Knocking on his office door, it opens before she can even raise a hand. Ambrose exiting the room with a few boxes in hand, “Hey, cous.”

“Your hands look a little full, do you need any help?”

“Don’t worry, they’re light as a feather,” he says, alluding to the possibility that he used a charm so he could carry them with ease.

“Okay, don’t throw your back out,” she teases, walking around him to enter Nick’s office.

Her face instantly lights up at seeing him, she walks over and takes a seat on the edge of his desk.

“Stop acting like you own the place,” he says, trying to be stern but failing to do so.

“Don’t I?” she asks, acting doe-eyed and innocent.

“I’m sorry Spellman, I reluctantly inform you, that you don’t own the place,” he teases, capturing her lips in a sweet peck in which they’re both fighting off smiles.

“ _Anyways_ , I think I’m ready to work on physical apparition. I’ve read through the books at least five times, I’ve treated your notes as gospel, and I have about twenty pages of my own notes,” she says, setting the papers down in the middle of his desk.

“You’ve memorized the incantations, and know them by heart?” he challenges to which she nods confidently.

“So...” she says, filling the silence.

“We’re going to start small, that way, there’s less room for error,” Nick says.

“Room for error?”

“Some witches have trouble focusing their intentions, so you can have a slight margin of error. While thinking of your intentions, you want to be as specific as possible. Magic can be a finicky thing, so if you say you want to go to the beach, you could end up on a separate continent.”

“Okay… what do you think would make for a good starting point?

“Well, for location based teleportation. I’d move from one side of the room to the other. Hone in on the bookshelf across the room, making your focus as vivid as possible while you perform the incantation,” Nick instructs and she nods her head in understanding.

“ _Lacunae magicae, Volant per terram et supergreditur corporis legibus temporis,_ ” Sabrina says, her mind free of distracting thoughts, only thinking of appearing in front of the bookshelf ten feet away from her current spot.

When she appears at the other side of the room, Sabrina gets a giddy smile on her face and runs over to Nick, “I did it!”

She nearly loses her balance, causing him to hold her steady.

“Now if you remember from the notes I gave you, it can be incredibly exhausting. With all that blood rushing to your head I don’t think running across the room to me was the smartest choice,” he says softly, cupping her face in her palm and brushing her temple with his thumb.

“I just feel a little off balance,” she admits with an eye roll.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me Spellman. If i doubt for even a second that you’re not taking this as seriously as you should, we’re going to stop,” he warns.

“Sorry,” she apologizes.

“Just remember that. Especially the first few times you do it. Most witches have never done something that requires this much power so it’s especially draining, it’s completely normal to pass out or faint after doing it,” Nick cautions.

“I summoned Hellfire,” Sabrina retorts confidently, causing Nick to get a bit annoyed with her.

“Don’t get fresh with me Spellman,” he warns, causing her to yet again apologize.

“Let’s try something else, you can use a specific person as a target for your destination. I’m going to go upstairs, and you’re going to use me as your target,” he instructs and she acknowledges him before he heads up to his apartment.

She again recites the incantation, now with Nick being the only thing in her focus, “ _Lacunae magicae, Volant per terram et supergreditur corporis legibus temporis.”_

Nick’s standing in the center of his place, when Sabrina appears right before him. At first she’s seemingly okay, but her eyes slightly glazed over.

Her body goes slack and he makes sure to catch her before she can hit the ground. He then carries her to the bed, laying her down and allowing her to rest for a while.

Figuring that if she rests here, she’ll miss dinner in the Institute's cafeteria, he decides to make them dinner. Preparing a basic spaghetti carbonara, he periodically goes over to check on her, his paranoia getting the better of him.

Once he’s got the food in order, he heads over to the bed, gently shaking her. Roused from her sleep she’s almost instantly alert, a small pout on her face that he only is able to pick up because he knows her so well.

“What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?” He asks, running his hand through her hair.

“I can’t believe I passed out,” she admits softly, clearly upset at herself.

“Literally everyone does Sabrina, you’re lucky you passed out at your intended destination rather than somewhere else,” he says, rubbing her arms and attempting to cheer her up.

“It was your first time and you did everything as perfect as you could have,” he reassures her, causing a small smile to grace her lips for the first time since she woke up.

“Did you make dinner?”

“I did,” he states matter-of-factly.

“I’m starving,” she replies, mimicking his tone.

“Come and eat then,” he extends an invitation for her to join him at the table. He fixes her a plate and sits down next to her with his own.

“This looks _incredible_ ,” she says somewhat surprised, taking a fork full of it to her mouth.

“You didn’t expect that I could cook?” he questions.

She shakes her head, eating her doubts away. The pasta he’s made being absolutely delicious.

“Well, I only learned it out of necessity. The second I started taking teaching jobs I realized I didn’t want to eat alongside students,” Nick says.

“Well, you’re eating alongside a student right now. I bet that makes you feel foolish,” she teases.

“I guess so,” he says with a smile, never happier to be a fool.


	12. The Hex

The Prefect’s ceremony was held true to Satanic grandeur, gilded decorations, deep red brocade tapestries expertly placed throughout the grand hall. There were even alumni in attendance, adding to the prestige of the whole event. The overwhelming spectacle of it all almost made it easy to forget that this event was born out of boredom and attempted extortion.

Looking up at the two honorees, they’re both practically glowing. Clearly both pleased and empowered by the rank they now hold above their peers. There was dancing and music at the Institute, but the real party started once a procession of witches led the masses to Le Salon du Magique, which had been exclusively reserved for witches and warlocks of the Institute. 

Nick and Sabrina go as a couple, neither one of them making too much of an effort to keep their relationship under wraps tonight. Nick finds himself beyond the point of giving a fuck, and Sabrina has a few drinks in her from the earlier festivities that resolve any reservations she’s previously had about being seen together.

They’re effectively cloaked by the luxurious splendor of it all, most students viewing the party as a warm up for the Lupercalia festivities in the coming weeks. Too focused on their own hedonistic pursuits to pay any attention to the pair hiding in plain sight.

Nick and Sabrina dance together, a sensual Fiona Apple song playing in the background, causing their moves to be more languid than usual. Holding her close to him, making sure they’re unseen behind a pillar, he runs a hand up her thigh, desperate to feel the soft skin underneath.

Sabrina lets out a moan and Nick devilishly snaps at a band under her skirt. Her heart racing as she looks at him, his pupils dilated with lust and a delighted expression on his face, “are you wearing _garters_?”

She bites her lower lip and nods, pleased she got such a reaction from him.

“I’m going to make you pay for this exquisite torture you’re putting me through tonight,” he promises, nibbling her earlobe, nearly causing her knees to buckle underneath her.

The alcohol has transformed Sabrina into somewhat of a minx, his words encouraging her. 

“Maybe you should tie me up,” she suggests and Nick releases a visceral groan of approval. 

“We’re leaving… _now_ ,” he says, beginning to lead Sabrina out towards the door.

“Father Scratch!” a student yells out, calling for him. _Fucking hell._

“We need you, Sophia and Adeline are on the verge of murdering each other,” the girl pleads, and Nick fights off rolling his eyes.

“Then let them,” he says seriously.

“Sophia cast a hex on Adeline causing her to fail her examinations, and Adeline created a poppet of her and broke Sophia’s arm,” 

“ _Fucking Hell,_ ” Nick mutters under his break, knowing that this requires intervention now. 

The two girls are in a back room, actively grappling each other with their magics, oblivious to their surroundings until Nick parts the crowd and uses his powers to render theirs useless. They glare at the newcomer until they realize it’s their High Priest.

He restrains them, before moving over to Sophia, wrapping his hands around her broken arm, causing her to wince, “ _et ossa figere, ut ipsi._ ”

Onlookers gasp as he heals her broken arm with minimal effort. Nick then leaves the room, still restraining them, and calls upon the Dark Lord to strip the girls of their powers. 

Returning to the root of the commotion, he lets go of them, no longer restraining them physically. Addressing the two witches with an authoritative tone, “Each of your powers have been suspended, Tuesday evening you’ll both face a witches tribunal, I trust you’ll take the weekend to repent for your petulant behavior. Until then, I banish you.”

Nick takes a fist to an open palm, abruptly twisting it, and banishing the two girls back to their dormitories. Of course he doesn’t explain this to the onlookers, so it appears to be a much harsher punishment than what he actually did.

He leaves the room, almost everyone who’d just witnessed his punishment fearful of the powerful warlock before them. Everyone except Sabrina, who’s waiting for him by the door and takes his arm as they both exit the party. 

When they arrive back at the apartment Nick falls onto the bed and groans, “ _fuck._ ”

Sabrina starts rubbing his shoulders and back, attempting to relax him.

“I just wanted to leave, and then those idiots had to break one of the Institute’s formal codes, the fighting would’ve been fine, the arm breaking was perfectly acceptable, but that imbecile had to interfere with another's examination scores. I’ll probably just expel them both for the hell of it,” Nick mutters, clearly stressed and annoyed by the situation.

She places a loving kiss on the back of his neck, reaching around to start unbuttoning his shirt. Her coordination is closer to normal now and he figures the spectacle sobered her up a bit,  “Sophia’s not _that_ bad, and it was probably just in retaliation for something else.”

He smiles at Sabrina, she’s always attempting to see the best in people.

“Speaking of retaliation,” Nick starts, opening the drawer on his bedside table to pull out a few lengths of silk rope. 

Her eyes widen when she sees it, the very way he’s holding the rope sparking something dark inside of her. She kneels on the bed before him, her eyes impenetrable.

Nick slides a hand around her waist, his fingers slipping against the silky fabric of her dress. A low-cut back presents the perfect opportunity for his fingers to slide underneath the fabric, searching for skin.

He already knows she’s gone braless, hard nipples having given her away hours before. Sabrina's breath is quick, the steady rise and fall of her chest betraying her cool exterior.

He leans in to kiss her, once their lips meet whatever tension was between them melts away, her lips softening against him and filling each second with pure bliss. His hand is large enough to hold both of her wrists, so he does. Restraining her with his hand briefly before moving them in front of her and binding them together with the rope.

After the knot is fastened, she gives it a test, attempting to pull against it. Both of them rather pleased when she finds it doesn’t budge. Sabrina arcs her back towards him, then her lips, softly flicking her tongue into Nick’s mouth.

She moans at the loss of contact when he decides he’d rather be torturing her by kissing elsewhere. His lips find his way down her throat, collarbone, and eventually her bound hands.

He bends down, pushing up the hem of her dress. Deciding that since she’s tortured him all night long, he was prepared to do the same. Once he’s moved the pesky silk out of the way, black garters and the lace trim of her thigh-high stockings taunt him.

He kisses the milky skin of her thighs, and Sabrina watches through heavy eyelids. As he parts her legs and peppers kisses along her inner thighs she lets out a gasp, and the sound alone sends Nick spinning with heat, straining against his pant leg as he’s been for the majority of the night. As he nears her sex, he stops to trail his fingers slowly across the soft skin of her thighs, only pulling back to read her expression.

He wishes he could stay in this moment forever. Sabrina looking ethereal with lips swollen from kissing, cheeks flushed from her aroused state, and her head tilted back just enough to indicate that she’s definitely enjoying herself.

He lifts her up slightly, adjusting her so she’s laying completely on her back, the hem of her dress still hitched up to just below her hips. Hard nipples visible through the thin fabric he moves her bound hands above her head, he rubs the peaks over the fabric. Using the knowledge he’s gained from their previous trysts to get her whimpering under his touch.

“Nick, please,” she pleads desperately. Crossing her legs and attempting to squeeze her thighs together for some much needed pressure, he takes the cue and moves his fingers to her core, rubbing over her panties. Providing friction in all areas but one that leaves her begging.

“I need you inside me,” she says barely above a whisper.

“What was that?” he teases, deciding to be evil.

“Nick, I need you inside me, now,” she repeats, louder this time, adding a sense of urgency to her request.

He kisses her and smiles against her lips, loving the way she’s entirely subject to his will, having given herself completely to him.

He decides he likes how the garters look, opting to move the fabric covering her heat off to the side rather than remove them completely. Leaving her exposed to him, he gets up off of the bed entirely, seemingly giving Sabrina a heart attack at the possibility of being left like that, causing her to assume a sitting position to get a better view at whatever he’s doing.

She looks relieved when Nick strips himself of the rest of his clothing, and comes crawling back to her on the bed. His large erection, still having the same effect on her as it did the first time. Kneeling on the bed, his cock is right in front of her face. Sabrina takes the opportunity to wrap her mouth around it, initially, frustrated that she doesn’t have the usual control she would when able to use her hands, He suddenly pulls away and pushes her back down to her previous laying position. Aligning himself to her core and pushing into her without a second thought.

She pulls at her hands, finding that pulling against the restraints helps her get into the submissive head-space. She lets out a moan as he thrusts into her, finding it absurdly hot that she can’t touch him like she wants to, and that he’s got her beneath him, able to do whatever he wants.

He’s got one arm holding him up so he doesn’t crush her, and one hand on her hip, holding her in place so he can continue to roughly fuck her. He moves so he’s resting lower on his elbow, moving his lips to her neck and leaving wet open mouth kisses just below her ear. The sensation causing a delightful shudder to rip through her body.

He finishes a few moments later, his thrusts becoming more desperate until they slow to a halt, when he pulls out she’s still throbbing for him, watching as he carefully unties the rope from wrists, leaving kisses where the rope left indentations on her skin.

They lay and relax as a tangled mess of limbs when Sabrina, like usual, allows her curiosity to get the better of her. She runs her fingertips across his skin, partially in a loving gesture, but also hoping that it helps her get an unguarded answer from him, “Hey Nick,”

“ _Quid est, meus deliciae?_ “ he asks, the Latin flowing from in the most organic and beautiful way she almost forgets what she wants to ask him.

“How did you heal Sophia’s arm earlier?” she asks with a hum.

“Perks of being High Priest,” Nick comments pragmatically, Sabrina quirks an eyebrow curiously. Keeping quiet in the hopes he elaborates further.

Nick is keen to her mind games and decides to indulge her. Sabrina’s inquisitive mind serving as both a Hellsend _and_ a hex at times.

“Like a Dark Baptism, once a witch ascends through the ranks of the Satanic church, the Dark Lord rewards us for our Satanic devotion,” Nick says with an unmistakable smugness.

“Does the _wife_ of a High Priest receive any additional gifts?” Sabrina’s question causes Nick’s heart to skip a beat.

“Already thinking of unholy matrimony?” he teases, lovingly petting her hair, though a part of him is genuinely wanting to see how she’ll respond.

“Not in the way you’re thinking, but _eventually._ What I’m trying to figure out is why my aunt Zelda is in a twisted courtship with Father Blackwood.”

“is Constance aware?” Nick questions.

“Constance died during childbirth.”

“That's not something you hear too often anymore.”

“Lady and Father Blackwood had a torrid falling out while she was pregnant. My aunt was her midwife. Knowing Father Blackwood I’m surprised he didn’t cut the children out himself and leave her to bleed out.”

Any normal person would be taken aback by her harsh appraisal of the man, though knowing first hand what Father Blackwood is capable of, Nick knows that everything Sabrina said wouldn’t be too out of character for the man.

“It also came out that Father Blackwood has quite a few love children, Prudence Night being one of them,” Sabrina says, kind of liking the comfortable bedside gossip.

“Prudence is still at the Academy?” Nick asks, swallowing a newly formed lump in his throat. His reaction piquing her interest.

“you know her?”

“Back when I was at the Academy, I dated the _sisters_...”

“All three of them?” She asks quizzically.

Nick nods, trying to be honest with her but also worried about what she’ll think.

“Surprised you were able to leave that relationship in one piece...”

“It wasn’t easy, their gifts include mind control. I wasn't sure what was real and what was _suggestion_ ,” Nick admits somewhat shamefully, clearly affected by the fact he let them control him.

“I hate that they did that to you,” She says softly, looking him in the eyes. A small rage burning inside of her that she opts to save for any future encounters with the Weird Sisters.

He gives her a kiss and reassuringly pets her head, Nick has come to terms with his relationship and the emotional manipulation he dealt with already. Though he can see that Sabrina is deeply bothered, he probably would be too, if he were hearing it for the first time. 

“I’m here with you, and this, right here, is the only thing I want.”

* * *

Sabrina considers staying at the Academy for the weekend, but ultimately decides against it to put her aunts at ease. Understandably, Ambrose stays to take advantage of his new freedom. Despite the love he has for his Aunts, the last thing he wants to do is return back to the mortuary, a place that for the past century, only served as a place to imprison him.

Besides, Nick is more than pleased to delegate some of the tasks for the upcoming entrance examinations to him. They’ve worked on several anti-cheating spells and protection wards to ensure the fairness of the examinations. In previous years malevolent students have taken to hexing those around them, hoping to increase their own rank by sabotaging others. Each year the academy admits 200 of the brightest young witches and warlocks. With an acceptance rate hovering around ten percent, the admissions process is very selective.

The admissions process commences at the start of every year, with an initial knowledge-based examination taken on paper. The top 300 students then move on to the performance based tests, which are proctored by teachers at the Institute. One being a “boil and bubble” style potions-making exercise, and the other being a conjuration challenge, students who perfectly execute the challenges are automatically admitted, that number usually hovering around the 100 student mark, and the remaining spots are decided with interviews.

The Institute has a fluctuating student body, as students are able to matriculate out of the school as they wish to, the vast resources of the Satanic Church able to sustain these periods of unbounded education. 

Ambrose was looking through the files of various applicants, prioritizing them in terms of pedigree as has been the standard for years, now the entrance examinations will obviously be the deciding factor, but should there be any tough decisions or close calls in the interviewing stage, the pedigree and legacy connections of each witch would weigh heavily.

Nick enters his office, Sabrina’s absence already causing a noticeable change in his mood, he’s less talkative, and more focused on his work. Already having finished his days tasks and it’s not even noon yet. 

He’d been focused on sorting out the details of the Lupercalia retreat, there were so many minute things that he could have delegated to Ambrose, but decided to do himself just to ensure that everything will go as planned.

“How have you enjoyed your first week here?” Nick asks Ambrose, breaking his focus.

“It’s absolutely liberating, being surrounded by so many ambitious young warlocks, it’s borderline overwhelming at times to think I was isolated for the better part of a century.”

Nick raises his eyebrows and nods. His mind attempting to put things into perspective, it was off to consider that Ambrose Spellman had been on house arrest for longer than Nick had existed.

“I’m impressed with the efficiency in which you work Spellman, come have a drink with me at _Le Salon_ , you’ve earned it...” Nick says, gesturing for him to follow. The two filter out of the office and off to the bar.

* * *

Lilith is disturbed by Stolas’ squawking, landing on the perch in her chambers. As she requested, he’s come to inform her that Headmaster Scratch’s office is empty, Causing her to slink through the Institute with a determined stride towards his quarters. 

This was exactly the opportunity she needed. Come Saturday morning, Lilith had found herself somewhat disappointed to see that he hadn’t returned with Sabrina to the nexus of Greendale over the weekend. Thankfully she only needed a few moments to get enough information.

She reverse engineers the wards he’s placed on the door, noting the protection spell that was placed on it so she can re-implement it later to cover her tracks. 

She sifts through the papers and plans on his desk, passing over the information regarding entrance examinations. Instead, a manicured finger hovers over the plans for the Coven’s Lupercalia retreat. 

Normally, she wouldn’t interrupt such a sacred witching tradition. However, she needed to get the two of them out of the protected walls of the Institute, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

She would tip off some witch hunters, not particularly angelic ones, but young and hungry Catholics who would be just eager enough to follow through on the promise of a fresh witch bounty.

The rebirth of Sabrina Spellman was a necessary step for the witching world to view her as their new leader on earth, and Lucifer always had a penchant for showmanship. Together, they had created this spectacle, in which Sabrina would be reborn, her infernal side would prove her immortality to be much greater than that of an ordinary witch.

Now that she has the location of the Lupercalia festivities, Lilith holds the cards to put the plan into motion, all she has to do is lie in wait until the event.

* * *

Sabrina had returned home to Greendale for the weekend, Hilda and Zelda were inundated with bodies for some reason, and they were really starting to realize how much Ambrose had contributed around the mortuary.

Hilda wasn’t too chipper, having performed a few autopsies while Ambrose was gone. One would think that a small town like Greendale wouldn’t see too many deaths. Greendale actually didn’t, but their reputation was unparalleled. The Spellman Mortuary even attracted those from neighboring towns due to their below market value pricing and knack for efficient embalmings. Ambrose’s absence had caused somewhat of a backlog that they weren’t expecting.

Zelda’s suggestion that Sabrina pitch in with the embalming duties were enough to make the blonde spit out her morning coffee. Sabrina excused herself to run off into town before her aunties could harass her any further on the matter.

She ended up at Dr. Cerberus’, a croissant and coffee ready for her the second she opened the door. Sabrina smiled gratefully at the young waiter Dr. Cee had hired since she’d been gone, and decided to open up one of her dad’s journals, looking more carefully at the footnotes on long distance physical apparition.

A few minutes into her breakfast, she saw Harvey, Roz, and _Theo_ enter. Harvey’s eyes instantly widened at the sight of her, while Roz seemed like she didn’t notice her.

“Sabrina’s here,” Harvey says to Roz, and she can’t help but wonder why he told her that. _She has eyes after all._

“I want to sit with her,” Roz said clearly, and Theo agreed. Harvey was a bit hesitant, looking between their friends and Sabrina.

“I’m actually going to check out the new comic book arrivals,” he awkwardly excused himself and Theo comes over to join Sabrina, leading Roz.

“Mind if we join?” 

“You don’t even have to ask,” Sabrina replies with a sip of her coffee.

“What’s up guys? Roz, why was Harvey _mansplaining_ things to you?” She casually pops a piece of croissant into her mouth as punctuation.

“I’m going blind Sabrina… they’re helping me navigate the colorful blurs in the distance that everything’s deteriorated to,” Roz states plainly.

“This came out of nowhere, Is there anything you can do?” Sabrina asks.

“It’s a genetic predisposition, my nana is blind. It happened when she was my age. We looked into Lasik and other procedures, but nothing works on this specific affliction. I’m just going to continue to lose my vision until it’s all gone… Right now it’s only distance that I’m having trouble with, like now I can see you fine, but if it’s further than five feet away, I’m lost...” Roz explains, she’s level headed and calm about it. Which Sabrina supposes just means that she’s come to terms with it.

“‘Brina, isn’t there some type of magicky fix for this? I mean… wouldn’t it be worth a shot?” Theo asks, first to Sabrina, then Roz.

“Theo, even if it’s possible I’m not sure I want the whole magic fix, we all saw how that happened with Tommy, witchcraft doesn’t seem to be an exact science,” Roz says pointedly at the blonde across from her.

“I’ll look into it if you want me to Roz,” Sabrina offers.

“Sabrina, no offense to you or your _nature_ , but my grandmother was cursed by witches. I don’t exactly trust magic when it’s probably the very reason I’m going blind to begin with,” Roz explains.

Sabrina feels dejected at hearing this, but since they know everything that happened with Tommy, while she might not like it, she understands their apprehension. Though she doesn’t appreciate the insinuation that she’s like the witches that hexed her ancestors.

Harvey comes over to rejoin Roz and Theo, Sabrina takes that as her cue to leave, gathering her things and standing up, “I’m going to head out.”

Sabrina gestures out the door, awkwardly excusing herself.

“Brina, you don’t have to leave,” Harvey insists, despite the obvious tension between the two of them.

“I have to go help out my Aunts anyways,” She lies, not wanting to deal with the awkwardness between them. It’s selfish of her, but she wishes that Harvey wasn’t in their friend group. Then she could just ask Theo and Roz to catch the double feature at the Paramount tonight. But ever since they’ve broken up, the group dynamic is thrown out of whack whenever he’s around.

The rest of her time spent in Greendale is fairly uneventful, she and Roz spend the afternoon bingeing a Netflix series together, Theo unable to join them because of basketball practice. Roz makes it clear that she wants to see _whatever_ she can while she still can, so they’ve been working their way through Roz’s cinematic bucket list.

* * *

Monday morning comes far too soon, and Sabrina finds herself en route to the city, opting to take a bus into the city since her aunts hands are full. She’s lazily fingering through the medicinal herbalism book she found on Ambrose’s desk, searching for a potential cure for blindness. Despite Roz’s hesitation, she still wants to have a contingency plan in place in case she changes her mind.

Once she’s back at the Institute, she heads straight towards Nick’s office. She’s able to enter despite the wards placed, since he’s clearly added her as an exception to the rule. 

She’d taken the early bus in, so it’s still only eight. Sabrina was hoping to catch him before classes could start,  holding a coffee and a bag of bagels she picked up from _Zabar’s_ on her way to the Institute.

She gingerly knocks at his apartment door, and there’s no answer, so she tests the handle. She hears the unmistakable sound of the shower running, so she figures she’ll surprise him, when he gets out. It turns so she lets herself in. Setting the bagels and coffee down on the dining room table she sits and reads more on curing various ailments. 

It seems that whatever is afflicting Roz will require an eye for an eye. As it turns out, curing mortal disabilities brought on by the false God, are much like Necromantic rites in that they need some sort of offering to balance the cosmic scales.

Thinking through things, Sabrina gasps softly. If Roz is right about what she said, and the blindness the Walker women have been cursed with was brought on by a witch, then Sabrina would just need to find the witch that cursed them, and coerce her to reverse the hex.

She figures that while Nick could help her, she’ll probably need to return to the Academy of Unseen Arts to get the answers she wants. After all, the witches who cursed them was likely a member of the Greendale thirteen, meaning that the Church of Night would have more information on the matter.

The shower cuts off and she hears the bathroom door open. Nick walks out with nothing but a towel draped over his hips. Not even startled when he sees Sabrina, just a big smile overtakes his features.

“I thought I heard the door open,” he says, walking over to greet her with a peck. 

“I brought breakfast,” she offers.

“You’re the best,” he replies, leaving briefly to walk over to his dresser to put on undergarments and get dressed for the day.

“I missed you this weekend,” Sabrina admits, her confession further strengthening his new feeling of belonging to someone else. He decides in that moment, that he rather likes it. He’d never known a family other than his familiar, now it feels like Sabrina is his family.

He walks over to her, now partially dressed in an unbuttoned shirt and dress pants. 

“The only time I don’t miss you, is when I have you in my arms,” he says softly, rubbing her shoulders and placing a kiss just below the nape of her neck. 

She leans in to his touch and smiles softly. He picks up the book she was reading through, “Ambrose was reading this at dinner the other week...”

She nods affirmatively, “he sung its praises, so I figured I’d expand my horizons, herbalism isn’t exactly my strong suit...”

“Should I place you in s remedial herbalism course?” Nick teases and she playfully swats at his arm.

“Keep that up and I’ll eat your bagel,” she threatens and he snatches the bag from the table. Taking a victorious bite, he smirks. 

“Too late, Spellman.”

* * *

The week goes by quickly, and the weekend has arrived at the blink of an eye. Sabrina’s been staying on top of things, but has pleaded with Ambrose to return to the mortuary for the weekend. Nick stays at the Institute, with the written entrance examinations being on Monday, it’s a long weekend for the Institute’s student body. 

Ambrose has to return early monday to help, but he’s going back to Greendale to help Hilda and Zelda with embalming processes. They’d been so reliant on Ambrose’s skills, they forgot the actual grunt work required with mortal bodies and they way they deteriorated so differently from witchkind.

Sabrina would’ve stayed at the Institute, just to be with Nick. But she has an ulterior motive, wanting to sneak back to the Academy of Unseen Arts to get more information on the witches that cursed Roz’s family to blindness. 

That exact motive is what has led her to the Academy doors in this moment. She hesitantly raises her hand to knock, knowing the searing burn that would occur should she try to open the doors now that she’s no longer a member of the Church of Night. The double doors violently swing open, and she’s greeted by the Weird Sisters. She digs her nails into her palms, seething at the fact they brainwashed and tortured Nick, but she has other business to attend to now, so she pushes that aside for the time being.

“My, _my_. Sabrina Spellman, I wish I could say this was a surprise… Did the Institute already grow tired of your half-breed antics?” Prudence teases, Agatha and Dorcas blocking the doorway behind her.

“I need to speak with Cassius,” Sabrina declares.

“Well, the library is reserved only for students of the Academy. Besides, what could our little library hold that the vast resources of the Institute lacks?”

“ _Cassius._ I need to speak with him on regional history related to Greendale.” 

“If it’s Greendale’s history you’re interested in, we’re _much_ more knowledgeable than that old rag. Why don’t you just ask us what you need to know? There’s no way we’re allowing you back into these walls after you so tactfully attempted to humiliate Father Blackwood.”

Sabrina groans, frustrated with the witches in front of her, “I was not trying to _humiliate_ him, if anything he was the one belittling me in front of everyone. For being supposedly omniscient, your memory is flawed.”

Prudence scoffs and Agatha looks as if she’s taken personal offense to Sabrina’s comment.

“ _Leave, Half-Breed._ You aren’t welcome here,” the sisters say in unison, when they’re eyes divert behind Sabrina and their gaze widens. 

“Nicky,” Prudence purrs disgustingly, Sabrina turns to see Nick approaching them. 

“What are you doing here? How did yo-”

“I bilocated you, I was worried at how vague you were being… and I needed to make sure you’d be safe,” he admits softly to just her.

“Nicholas Scratch… It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?” Agatha says and the three of them stare him down like a hawk.

“It’s _Father_ Scratch, Sabrina and I are here on official business for the Church of Lucifer,” Nick says sternly. Wrapping an arm around Sabrina and magically parting the sisters, so they’re able to make their way into the Academy.

Sabrina’s chest is heavy at merely being in the building again. She feels the hostile glare of the Sisters following her throughout the building. 

“What are we doing here?” Nick questions Sabrina.

“I needed to talk to Cassius, find out the witch who hexed the Walker women, during the Greendale witch trials. My friend Roz is going blind, and I’m trying to figure out how to reverse it. I’m pretty sure I have a way but I need the name of the witch who cursed her family.”

“Another reminder of the fact my girlfriend consorts with mortals...”

“Do you have any ideas Nick?”

“I wish you would’ve raised this with me before making an unannounced visit to a place where you’re putting yourself in danger by merely entering. Especially not with the regressive policies Blackwood’s enacted as of late,” Nick admits, caressing her face softly and holding her to him; making it clear that he’s only being protective of her out of love as opposed to the possessive domination it could otherwise be interpreted as.

“Come on, let’s go speak with Cassius,” he urges and they both head towards the library.

Once inside they speak with him, Cassius pulls out a book with detailed records of all hexes and spells cast during the Greendale witch trials. He finds an entry on the Walkers, a family that was one of the first to oust a member of the Church of Night. He provides them with a name but nothing more. 

Once they leave the Academy, Sabrina is grateful that she didn’t have another encounter with the Weird Sisters, she doesn’t know if she would’ve been able to hold back her anger again. She’s still furious about what they did to Nick and there’s a lingering rage she would’ve loved to take out on them. Realistically though, she knows that three against one isn’t the best odds; and that wasn’t a fight she wanted Nick to be apart of since he seems to already have made his peace with the situation.

“So, now I just have to conjure _Martha Bishop_ and coerce her to reverse the hex,” Sabrina says, acting as if it’s that simple. 

Nick raises an eyebrow in amusement, “What leverage are you going to have against this ancient witch to convince her to do this?”

“Well, since she’s one of the original thirteen, I’ll just summon her spirit and threaten her with Hellfire again.”

Nick chuckles, “so… summoning Hellfire is something you can do at the drop of a hat?”

“Maybe, _but_ she won’t know that,” Sabrina replies with a shrug.


	13. The Visitors

They return back to the Mortuary. At their entrance, Zelda is nearly bursting at the sight of Nick and Sabrina. She’s immensely pleased at the sight of her niece with a High Priest, believing that there’s not a single warlock more suitable for her. 

Zelda even decides to prepare a special dinner for the family tonight, she’s humming as she works in the kitchen, Hilda reading a novel in the parlour  as she’s already done the baking needed for their meal. Ambrose walks into the kitchen, having emerged from the depths of the morgue.

“You’re unusually… _pleasant,_ ” he notes.

“Well, with you being home for the weekend, and Sabrina bringing home that dashing Nicholas Scratch fellow, I figured I’d do something a little special for tonight...” she says, pouring some red wine into the pan.

“Ah yes, I could tell you were pleased about their relationship from the moment you saw them speak,” Ambrose teases, though it’s true.

“I had my doubts with Sabrina. The trouble she was causing at the Academy. It had me fearing for the reputation of the Spellman family name. However, seeing Sabrina thrive in a school as prestigious as the Institute, my doubts are absolved.” She adds some vegetables to a pan and pops them in the oven before turning her attention to Ambrose.

“And with you off of house arrest, assuming an admirable position at the Institute, it warms my cold, black heart… _truly._ ”

Ambrose finds himself choked up slightly, it’s very rare that Zelda expresses her approval like this, and even then it’s usually in a much less direct way. 

“I’m proud to be able to help restore the grandeur of the Spellman name,” Ambrose quips.

“You know, I’m thinking about formally leaving the coven, defecting to the Church of Lucifer. From what I’ve seen and witnessed, I think that their teachings are much more aligned with what Edward was attempting.”

“I see that too, Father Scratch reminds me a lot of him,” Ambrose comments.

“I’ve been somewhat appalled by Faustus’ latest mandates. It’s a satanic church for Satan’s sake, _not a cult._ To think I ever had a tryst with that man, just makes the ovaries shrivel up and die at the thought.” 

His eyes widen, though he’s always been used to Zelda’s unabashed attitude and bluntness, “Nick was ranting on about Blackwood the other day. The Church of Judas? Sounds like he’s gone off the rails a bit...”

“Yes, for a man who claims he’s all about tradition, he’s simply choosing to eradicate the centuries long legacy of the Church of Night with a name change? It’s blasphemous, really… Now go fetch your cousin, dinner is ready.”

Nick and Sabrina join everyone at the table, her aunties watching on in eager anticipation at what their interactions might potentially reveal about the nature of their relationship.

“This coq au vin is incredible Zelda, better than I’ve had in France...” Nicholas says after a mouthful, deeply flattering her.

“So, um… how did this come about?” Hilda asks nervously, obviously a little more skeptical than Zelda is.

“We went dancing, after Black Mass one night,” Sabrina says looking over to Nick as she answers.

“Sabrina was her usual self, determined to get what she wants.” Nick teases causing her to blush and smack his wrist gently.

“Well, I think spending that time alone together was enough for us to realize that there was definitely something good worth pursuing.”

“And you’re not worried about what your classmates might be thinking?” Hilda asks specifically in concern to Sabrina.

“Most of them don’t care, and the ones that do are just jealous, if they’ve even noticed… I think for the most part though, they’re far too afraid of Nick to try anything.”

Nick casually chuckles at that and Hilda takes a sip of her tea, seemingly done with being nosy for the night. 

* * *

They take a nap before heading out just before midnight. Sabrina takes Nick’s hand, interlacing their fingers and smiling at the contact. She leans up to kiss his jaw, and he looks down at her lovingly. 

“You ready for this?” he asks, giving her hand a comforting squeeze.

Sabrina nods confidently, “with you by my side? Absolutely.”

They walk together through the woods to the clearing. Once there, they start tracing their bind in the dirt, muttering the incantation as they create it. 

Using principles of sacred satanic geometry, they create a strong binding to keep the conjured confined within the limits of its shape. 

“Shall we?” Sabrina questions with a raised eyebrow, extending her hands to him. 

They join together and begin reciting the conjuration spell in unison, _“Vos evoco, formidabiles Martha Bishop nomine Episcopi, qui translati Greendale tredecim. Nos invocabo te quia responsa. Veni ad nos et manere intra nos ligare. Ubi dolores habitant!”_

With that, the haggard old witch dressed in Puritanical clothing appears in the confines of their bind.

“Who dares summon me?” she questions viciously, nearly spitting her anger. Nick takes a backseat and allows Sabrina to handle it.

The witches spirit looks closely at Sabrina and appraises her. Martha radiates hatred and anger towards her, seemingly remembering Sabrina from her summoning of Hellfire, “Sabrina Spellman!”

“Martha Bishop, you’ve cursed the Walker family with blindness. Reverse the hex and I’ll leave you be, refuse and…. Well I think you know,” Sabrina says threateningly with bravado.

“Flesh no longer hinders me, I am but a ghost, Hellfire does not scare me in this form!” she yells.

Nick and Sabrina exchange glances.

“The Walker family are followers of the False God. They knew of our nature and were the first to point fingers at the trials. Their accusations caused the demise of many witches, and their descendants shall not be spared from the suffering I’ve inflicted!” She proclaims.

Additional threats seem to not scare the woman in the slightest, Nick’s even pulled a few cards Sabrina wasn’t expecting, torturing the witch with pain, through which she remains silent. Despite their magical waterboarding, Martha Bishop is adamant in her refusal to repeal the curse. Her stubbornness infuriating Sabrina with every passing second.  

She’s unable to explain why the rage courses through her the way it does, but in that moment she doesn’t care. The anger overtakes her, and all she wants to do is feel the same power coursing through her that she felt when she incinerated the Greendale Thirteen.

“I, Sabrina Spellman, daughter of Edward Spellman, Child of Lucifer Morningstar, call forth Fire from the Pit.  _Ater ignus, fusce fume. Te evoco ut potentium tuam monstres_.”

The woman starts to burn alight with blue hellfire overtaking her feet. Sabrina is unable to hear Nick calling for her to stop. 

 _"Cupidibus flammis hic veni. Caelo sub isto, harc arborem consumo. Lucem tenebrasque tuas monstra. Impetuum tuum evoco ad devorandum. Hanc arborem ac omnes hospitas devora._ ”

Nick watches as the old witch is incinerated, they didn’t accomplish their goal of convincing her to reverse the spell, but being able to bear witness to the raw power coursing through Sabrina right now, leaves Nick curious as to whether he’d be able to do the same.

Initially, he wasn’t completely convinced by the rumor he’d heard of her doing so, but witnessing it firsthand was something else entirely. Only four witches in the history of witchcraft had been able to conjure Hellfire, and he was amazed that he was in the presence of one.

Once she’s brought down from her spellcasting, Nick holds her tightly, seemingly able to bring her back to reality.

"You really are your father's daughter," he says attempting to make light of the situation.

“That fucking wench!” Sabrina exclaims, clearly annoyed. Nick chuckles in amusement at her rare usage of profanity..

“There has to be another way...” she reels, searching through her mind for an alternative. The healing books she’s read have made it explicitly clear that a hex-induced physical ailment can only be reversed by the witch that cast it, but they seem to be at a dead-end in that regard.

“With the hex still in place, anything you do to help would only be temporary, as the hex would always take precedence over whatever aid you could provide her.”

“Well, I could just do it every month, week… I don’t care. This blindness is ruining her Nick,” Sabrina expresses sadly at the thought of Roz’s helplessness. 

“ _Mea deliciae,_ ” he whispers, kissing the top of her head.

* * *

They get back to the Institute early Monday. Classes are cancelled for the day due to the entrance examinations being held, so they hang out in Nick’s apartment for a good while before having to attend to work matters.

Sabrina was rooting through Nick’s bookshelves, pulling every text that could possibly have a solution for Roz. Nick looked over and smiled at her tenacity. It was one of the many reasons he loved her. She’s unable to put it to rest, not willing to accept no for an answer.

It was ten am and her mind was still running high from the events of Saturday night. Nick was still thinking about the Hellfire, and not much else if he was being honest.

He walks over to her, currently kneeling in front of a bookshelf.

“Take a break Sabrina,” he pleads. 

He’s considering giving her a small task to help with for the examinations, but truthfully, thanks to Ambrose, everything’s been done.

“Would you like to come to the Cathedral with Ambrose and I? I could use some help escorting the masses,” he proposes hopefully.

“Sounds good, when is that?”

“In about an hour or so, we could go grab a quick breakfast beforehand if you’re hungry.”

“Truthfully, I haven’t had much of an appetite since the whole fiasco,” Sabrina replies.

Nick chuckles quizzically, “It was far from a _fiasco_ Spellman. Believe me, I’ve witnessed my fair share of ritual bindings and conjurations gone awry and that was far from a failure. We just didn’t get the results we wanted, as can be expected with malignant spirits acting on their own accord.”

She’s comforted by his attempts to console her, but she still feels like a failure, “Was I too rash, going in with Hellfire when I did? I should’ve tried to shake her more...”

“We clearly weren’t getting anywhere with her though. It’s hard dealing with creatures and spirits not of this earth. She knew your jurisdiction doesn’t extend to anything that could affect her in Hell, so she wasn’t too threatened. It’s a shame, but there isn’t anything we could do further unless the Dark Lord himself took a special interest in what was happening. We have no influence on the hierarchies of Hell,” Nick assures her, rubbing her back lovingly.

“Well… Just because I’m not hungry doesn’t mean you aren’t. Let’s go get you something,” she suggests with a soft smile that warms him. 

Arriving at the Cathedral right around eleven, Sabrina is surprised at the number of prospective young students gathered. There must be at least a thousand if not more. The cathedral is near occupancy with the pews all filled with waiting students. 

She looks up to Nick, in an attempt at reading his mood, but he seems to have put on the cold authoritative shell he tends to in situations like this. Tabitha and Tobias are towards the front of the Cathedral, hanging out with Ambrose over at a table with beverages and sheets, partially blocking the passageway to the Institute.

Nick heads over to them and drops Sabrina off there before taking the stage in front of the large crowd.

“Good morning, Ave Satanas. I’m Headmaster Scratch, I’m pleased to welcome all of you, as you begin this momentous journey. As I’m sure you’re all aware, today’s proceedings consist of the written examination. Scores are announced Tuesday morning, and the top three hundred prospective students will attend a social later that evening with current students and faculty of the Institute. You’re going to check in with our Prefects, then follow the passageway to the Institute, where you’ll be divided into individual testing groups. I wish you all the best of luck and anticipate seeing many of you as students of the Institute soon.”

The room fills with echoes of _Ave Satanas,_ followed by a loud raucous of cheering and celebration. Sabrina’s heart skips a beat when she’s the first person he goes to after coming down from the stage. There’s tons of faculty from the Institute, and leaders from other Covens. 

“There’s going to be a small gathering of all coven leaders after the students are done testing, would you like to join me?” Nick asks softly, taking away her ability to breathe for a moment.

“I’m not a Church leader, wouldn’t it be a little weird?”

“I’d like to have you there, it’d make the whole thing bearable for me,” he admits, kissing her temple as he pulls away.

“If you want me there, I’ll go. I’m not leaving your side though,” She agrees, firm on the last part.

“Perfect,” he says with a brilliant smile.

She and Nick walk past where Tabitha and Tobias are checking the witches and warlocks in, one-by-one, magically though, so it’s much more efficient than one would expect.

Ambrose joins Sabrina and Nick en route to the Institute. Making their way ahead of the masses of students following the passage and trickling into the Institute. 

Ambrose is looking through his papers and the clipboard in his hands. The Institute’s faculty standing together as a united front organized in the main lobby of the institute. It’s somewhat weird, walking by Nick’s side like this, in front of all her instructors. 

Ambrose herds the first group of students together, then passes them off to Professor Kraft, acting as shepard. “Fifty pupils for Kraft.”

“One hundred and thirty in the satanic lecture hall for Madame Divine,” he mutters, waiting for it to fill up in the lobby. 

“Walk with them? Ensure there are no stragglers please,” Ambrose asks of Sabrina, who agrees and leaves Nicholas’ side to help herd the students to their test taking area.

“Hands off,” she scolds a starry-eyed witch who reaches out to touch a relic mounted on the wall. 

Heading back to the Institutes lobby, she watches as all these neatly organized groups are guided throughout the institute.

Tabitha and Tobias eagerly escort a large amount of them into the lobby, many of them still having to squeeze in the hallway, “Ah, the last of them, six Hundred in the main dining hall, Proctored by Wardwell, Hughes, Jewelle, Blackwell, and _Spellman_.” 

Sabrina quirks an eyebrow at Ambrose, mouthing _me or you?_

Ambrose shrugs and replies with a mouthed _both?_

She enters the dining hall as the students all trickle in, it’s weird how eerily quiet everyone is. It’s the most full she’s ever seen the dining hall, so the fact that one could hear a pin drop is somewhat surreal. 

The way the whole morning has gone is honestly impressive. The way they were able to keep over a thousand students so impeccably organized was a feat in itself.

As if reading her mind, Nick appears besides her, “It’s never been this orderly, I think I owe a lot to your cousin.”

She smiles at that, Ambrose would definitely love to hear that himself, knowing that what he’s doing is worthwhile.

“I didn’t realize that entrance examinations were this big of an event. I mean seeing the numbers on paper is one thing, but actually seeing it is something else...” She says looking around the room filled with test takers, somewhat starry-eyed and proud that she’s already where all of these young witches and warlocks are clamoring to be.

The test seems to go without a hitch, which according to Nick is a rarity. Their new anti-cheating wards and protection spells seem to have been quite effective. He’s unsure as to whether it was really the new anti-cheating mechanisms or just the story of last years mishaps circulating. 

Students having cheated last year had their tests spontaneously catch flame while testing, causing quite a stir among the young witches and warlocks that year.

Once the exams are all collected and securely transported to the evaluation room, there’s a brief break in the day. The faculty and church leader social taking place at Le Salon du Magique.

Sabrina’s by Nick’s side, in a form fitting red dress that he can’t seem to take his eyes off of.

“You’re spellbinding Sabrina,” he whispers in her ear, as they relax on one of the loveseats in the lounge. Nick’s proving himself to be the man of the hour. With various leaders from attending covens all desperate to get a word in with him and talk up their pupils, as if it were to have any affect on their admittance to the Institute.

Eliphas had just replenished their drinks, and Sabrina was partaking to help with the awkwardness of being surrounded by dozens of respected coven leaders. The word ‘father’ has left her lips upwards of a hundred times in the past hour and she’s grateful that she’s capable of sinking into the shadows while at Nick’s side.

“What’s this I hear about your bidding for station of antipope Father Scratch?” a strange lanky man in full satanic regalia asks, if she recalls correctly, it’s Father Gray of the Church of Mephistopheles, but in all honesty, Sabrina stopped attempting to keep names straight about twenty minutes ago.

“That’s absolute heresy, I’m very happy where I’m at. I can assure you I’ll be headmaster at the Institute for years to come Father Gray…

She smiles slightly, pleased that she was able to keep his identity straight. She quirks a brow at the thought of Nick as antipope.

“Oh, it’s just that you and Enoch are so close, it seems as if he’s grooming you for the station,” Father Gray raises in an amused tone, seeking validation from the other High Priests in his immediate vicinity who seem to be equally as interested in the conversation.

“Well, in spite of my ambition, I’m far too young to even begin considering that. Regardless of what Enoch might have planned,” Nick says maintaining his humble demeanor. 

“You haven’t introduced us to your companion Nicholas,” another High Priest points out somewhat snarkily. Nick nudges Sabrina, suggesting that she make her own introduction.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance Fathers, I’m Sabrina Spellman.”

“Edward’s daughter?” One of the men questions to Nick, without even acknowledging her, this somewhat agitates her so she speaks up.

“Yes, I’m the daughter of Edward Spellman,” Sabrina confidently assures the man, presumably catching him off guard by the fact she ignored the fact he clearly wasn’t speaking with her.

“You have yourself quite an independent young witch there Nicholas,” Father Gray says almost mockingly.

“Well, not all of us choose to make our partners somnambulists with a Caligari Spell… Besides, I like that Sabrina’s able to challenge me and speak for herself, maybe you could learn a thing or two if you allowed your wife to fully utilize that intellect of hers,” Nick retorts somewhat sharply and Sabrina bites the inside of her cheek to keep her reaction at bay.

It’s then that Sabrina freezes in her spot, seeing Father Blackwood enter the room. She turns to Nick and through gritted teeth asks, “I didn’t know Father Blackwood was coming?”

Nick leans into her and quietly confesses, “Neither did I.”

He's swift to walk over and greet him separately from the group, “Faustus, I was unaware you’d be joining us tonight.”

“Well, I do have a few members of the Church of Judas sitting the entrance examination. That’s besides the point. I’ve come upon a predicament, the Academy of Unseen arts is now a warlocks only institution, quite a few witches were able to find spots in other witching institutions, but I’d like to ensure that our brightest find a comparable education.”

“And?”

“There are a few witches sitting the examination today, and while I have no qualms that they’ll fare well, I’d like to ensure their futures.”

“So you’d kicked them out of the Academy and you intend to ask me to harbor them at the institute?”

“Precisely.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. The Institute for the Divine Craft has the most rigorous admissions process of any educational institution in the witching world. I can’t simply make room. If they’re as bright as you say they are, then your girls should have no problems securing a spot based on merit.”

“You’re expecting me to believe that Sabrina Spellman followed protocol to secure a spot in the middle of the school year?”

“We had a few vacancies during the time of her transfer, and I received explicit orders from the Dark Lord himself Faustus. Besides that, she’s more than proved herself, conjuring Hellfire on numerous occasions, ranking in the top of her class at the institute.”

“So the Dark Lord came to you and specifically asked you admit Sabrina Spellman?”

Nick takes a sip of his drink, ”if you don’t believe me ask him yourself Faustus.”

“We’ll see how your girls do on the entrance examination then they’ll follow formal procedures as every other witch and warlock is required to do so. It’s not my burden that you’ve chosen to transition the Academy of Unseen Arts to a single sex institution, that was a move on your part and now you must figure out what to do with the students you’ve decided that your Academy can no longer provide for.”

“I believe you’re forgetting the fact that I took you in as a child and raised you as one of my own Nicholas,” Father Blackwood protests, and that seemingly pushes Nick over the edge. 

“You were no Father to me Faustus, I was simply a ward of the Church of Night and was treated as such. I never expected love or attention from you, but if you think for even a second that you’re the reason I’m where I am now, you’d be gravely mistaken. Everything I’ve come to be, and have earned was through my own self-determination. Which is why I, like Edward Spellman, have surpassed you in the Satanic Church. Were it not for your insistence on reverting back to barbaric and outdated practices, you might gain some headway with the council, but until then I’m afraid you’ll have to return back to your Church of _Judas,_ where you actually hold some sort of rank.”

“You’ve forgotten who you’re speaking to boy,” Father Blackwood says in a menacing tone.

“On the contrary, I realize exactly who I’m speaking to Faustus, and I won’t have you believing that you can shape the admissions process of my Institute to your favor just because we have a history together.”

Nicks tone gets lower and more somber, “Besides, if you even think about retaliation for this interaction, I think you should know I’ve built quite the case on you Faustus. About how you cast the spell that murdered Edward and Diana Spellman. _Now_ , that was rainy day information I was intending on keeping for ammunition at a later date, but if you’d like I can speak with His Unholy Eminence at a moments notice.”

Blackwood’s eyes widen and his throat is suddenly tight. His pauses, wanting to call Nick out for bluffing, but at this point, Father Scratch had proven himself to be more than meets the eye. If he was honest, Blackwood wasn’t quite sure what evidence Nick might have.

“That won’t be necessary Father Scratch, don’t let your paranoia and personal relationships cloud your judgement. I know you and Edward were close, and you’re still trying to make sense of this, sixteen years later… but what happened to Edward and Diana was truly a tragedy and I won’t tolerate this hideous accusation. I’m leaving for the evening. Though, I suggest you take a closer look at the candidates from the Church of Judas… You might find yourself another plaything,” Faustus snaps before apparating out of the room as an escape.

Nick clenches his jaw, angry that Blackwood managed to get in the last word. It was clear that Father Blackwood was sweating bullets about Nick’s case against him, but if Nick was being honest, all he had were written testimony from other warlocks who’d overheard Faustus drunkenly bragging about “taking care of Edward Spellman” on numerous occasions. Father Blackwood didn’t need to know that, however.

He returns to Sabrina, who is somewhat managing to make a group of High Priests laugh, her charisma making the mood about ten times lighter as soon as he joins. 

“I can see why you keep her free Nicholas, she’s got a quick wit that shouldn’t be kept in a music box,” one of the High Priests jokes and Nick feels like he’s going to vomit at the longstanding patriarchal tradition of turning one’s wife into a mindless submissive body. 

“Well, if you don’t mind, Sabrina and I must get going. Big day tomorrow, as I’m sure you’re all aware. Now, continue to drink and be merry, I’ll see you all in the morning,” Nick says, easily cutting in and removing Sabrina from the group of men.

When they get back to the apartment Sabrina kicks off her shoes and plops down on the bed. Her body exhausted, but her mind still racing.

“Nick, what did Father Jessup mean by keeping my wit in a music box? And what about the whole Caligari thing? What am I missing out on?”

Nicks eyes widen at that, “believe me, absolutely nothing.”

She looks at him with a sad expression, “tell me.”

“Well, the best way to explain it… is that some High Priests are like your father, and others are more like Father Blackwood. Your father was a huge advocate for equality between witches and warlocks, supporting the intermingling between mortals and witches, and just other generally progressive policies. Whereas Blackwood comes from a longstanding tradition of how the Satanic church had been for a long time, patriarchal with warlocks having superior powers and less limitations placed on the practice of their magic. With these traditional High Priests, many had married young powerful witches, but when their wives powers threaten or surpass their own, they place a Caligari enchantment of them, basically making their wives submissive in every way imaginable, so as not to threaten or emasculate them. Tonight they were making jokes- in poor taste- about how you’re too independent.”

“So their wives are basically slaves?” Sabrina asks, seemingly worried. Her heart being far too big, aching for these women.

Nick nods shamefully, for a moment he’s embarrassed to exist among the ranks of men that would do such a thing to their wife.

“Now that you know of that, I want to make one thing abundantly clear to you. I love you Sabrina Spellman, your power, your stubbornness, how headstrong and righteous you are. I love that you’re not afraid to challenge me, or call me out on my shit. I love everything about you and I will never take any of that away from you, nor do I have the slightest desire to.“

He wraps his arms around her, effectively cocooning her small frame. Kissing the top of her head and rubbing small circles on her back.

Sabrina meets his gaze, tears welling in her eyes, “I love you Nick. Thanks for allowing me to speak… take care of my own,” She says softly, placing a kiss on his jaw.

He uses his fingers to lift her chin up so she’s perfectly angled to meet his lips for a kiss, “I’ll always let you take the lead if you want to Sabrina, I’ll never silence you.”

A mischievous smirk appears on her face, “I’d like to see you try.”


	14. The Fight

Tuesday came as a disappointment to seven-hundred bright witches and warlocks, who while in every aspect were talented in their craft, just weren’t able to prove themselves talented _enough._ The day was long, with classes resuming for current students and the visiting witches likely roaming the city to fill the hours until the social that was to be held in the evening after classes wrapped up.

Sabrina had mixed feelings about the whole thing, it was exciting witnessing all the hopeful students, the influx of students reminding her just how big the witching world was. Her perspective was unique, with her only having known Hilda, Zelda, and Ambrose prior to her Dark Baptism. If she was honest about it, the whole thing was somewhat of a culture shock. Though she was eased into things, transitioning from the Church of Night to the Church of Lucifer had messed with her worldview slightly. She wasn’t the seasoned traveler that her family members had been. Ambrose had spent the better part of the 19th century hopping around the finest academic institutions in Europe, whereas Zelda and Hilda had traveled the globe, offering their renowned midwife services to the witching world’s elite.

Sabrina on the other hand, had only ever known the small town of Greendale. Coming to the Institute was an adjustment, she was only grateful that the lush scenery of Central Park allowed for some reprieve from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The Cathedral and Le Salon du Magique were on the Upper West Side, which was one of the more quiet neighborhoods in the city. In the rare moments she didn’t spend with Nick, Sabrina would sometimes find herself walking the streets after classes, Salem trailing behind her for protection. While busy, there were plenty of places she could find a moment of peace. Riverside Park being one of them, where she was now, the masses of witches and warlocks in the Institute having caused her thoughts to race a step quicker than they usually did.

“Sabrina Spellman,” a familiar voice with a tinge of flirtation speaks from behind her spot on the bench.

“Endicott, how are you?” she greets kindly.

“Alright, I’d be better if there weren’t strangers running freely throughout the Institute,” he admits. 

“I presume that’s why you’re here as well… Overwhelmed by the invading witches?”

“I guess it is,” she replies truthfully, looking wistfully out at the Hudson.

“So… you and Headmaster Scratch?” Endicott questions, unusually awkward for someone known for being a smooth talker.

She nods sheepishly in affirmation.

“I was wondering how you were capable of rejecting my advances. If I was tapping _that_ , I wouldn’t have eyes for anyone else either,” he teases arrogantly with a lighthearted chuckle.

“Yeah, Nick is great…” she says with a soft smile, not really wanting to reveal much more.

“Is it weird?”

“What?” she asks, confused.

“The fact that you’re romantically involved with the headmaster of the school you attend? I mean, you’re basically invincible now. Free to do whatever you want...”

“I don’t really feel like that… If it makes any sense, I don’t really think I ever saw Nick as the authority figure everyone else does. Probably because he was a friend of my father before I came to the Institute, he’s just so much more than what everyone else sees,” she says happy to think about him and reflect on their relationship a bit.

“Wow, so _Nick_ is much more than one of the most powerful and influential warlocks our generation has seen?”

“I mean… He’s normal around me. Obviously he’s very strong and capable, but he’s …” she catches herself before she can say _‘human, just like the rest of us,’_ because he isn’t human, Nick is the furthest thing from it.

Endicott raises an eyebrow as if urging her to continue.

“I probably shouldn’t be talking about him this casually… After all he’s still High Priest, and _Headmaster_...” she says pointedly.

“Do you want to go grab a bite before they force us to socialize with the hopeful witches?”

“Sure,” she agrees, somewhat skeptical of his intentions but a slight pang of hunger is enough motivation to go.

“I don’t think I’ve asked, how long have you been at the Institute?” Sabrina questions, wanting to deflect some of the attention off of herself.

“This will be my fifth year at the Institute,” Endicott says proudly.

“How long do you think you’ll stay?”

“Not sure yet, I should probably dial in and focus a little more on my studies, but I’m having fun. There’s nothing like the environment at the Institute… the camaraderie… the orgies…” he says, teasing but truthful.

“It’s nice being immersed in the magic of it all, not as many responsibilities as the outside world,” he continues.

“So, your previous coven was a lot different?”

“Oh, I grew up in the Church of Lucifer, my parents are both in finance. My father helps manage the Satanic church’s holdings and investments in the mortal world. Helping with real estate acquisitions and the likes of it,” he explains casually.

“Do you like your family?” she questions, understanding that while it might seem an odd question to ask, among witches it really wasn’t. 

From what Sabrina’s picked up on from her time at the Academy and the Institute, it seems as if most witches have a vague family history, or a strained relationship with their parents. Witches with normal family lives are the exception to the rule in most cases.

“I love my mother. My father’s a very traditional warlock… wasn’t always a member of the Church of Lucifer. He was a High Priest of a coven when he lived in London, apparently he had far too many vices to be _respectable_ , which is what led to his career in finance.”

Sabrina raises her eyebrows, never having heard of a warlock being reprimanded for being overly indulgent. She figures there’s more to the story than he’s telling her, but she doesn’t want to push the subject too far.

“So is that what you’re going to do? Follow in your Father’s footsteps?”

“Not sure. If it were up to him, then that’s exactly what I’d be doing. I want to open a nightclub or something, make something I can be proud of,” He admits, trying to brush it off as a small dream, but she can tell it’s important to him.

“You should, nightclubs can be pretty lucrative when done well. Besides, if there’s anyone who knows how to have a good time it’s you,” she reasons, trying to provide whatever support she can.

“Yeah, now the real struggle is to attempt to finance it without the help of my dad,” he confesses somewhat bitterly.

“Well, I’m sure there are plenty of people in the church that would be more than happy to invest in a warlock-owned business,” she replies, ever the optimist about these types of things.

Endicott gives an over-exaggerated eye roll, “well I guess we have to go back to the Institute, bite the bullet...”

“I’m sure it won’t be _that bad._ ”

“Just you wait.”

* * *

 

Sabrina smacked Nick on the arm when he told her about the dress code a mere two hours before the event. Apparently everyone else there was familiar with the event so it wasn’t something he’d even thought to consider telling her until she asked about the bow tie laying on his dresser. 

It was literally a full black tie occasion and she took a moment to praise Satan that she was a witch, or else it would’ve been a much greater dilemma to obtain suitable attire, considering that most people don’t take evening gowns to boarding school.

With a twirl and a snap of her fingers she changes into an ivory colored chiffon gown with beaded spaghetti straps and a deep v-neck showing more skin than she has in the past. She debates changing again, since it’s the fourth dress she’s tried, but when Nick exits the bathroom his jaw goes slack. She smirks slightly at her reflection, knowing that she’s not going to change now. Not since she’s got that reaction out of him with it.

He walks over to her and wraps his arms around her from behind. Starting to kiss at her exposed skin. 

“If I wasn’t so opposed to angels and their fiery swords, I’d say you look rather angelic,” He says hot against her skin.

“Too light?” She questions, a quirked brow looking for an answer from him, before he’s able to, she twirls out of his embrace and changes the color of the dress to a deep maroon. 

He lets out a groan of approval, appreciatively taking in the contrast of her pale skin against the rich jewel tone.  

“You didn’t have to change, but I’m certainly not going to protest _this_ ,” he says, playfully lifting a layer of the lightweight chiffon and letting it fall back to join the rest of her skirt.

“You know it’s been a while since I’ve slept in my own dorm,” she teases at the domesticity of it all, getting ready for a formal event together. 

“You’ve already taken over a few of my drawers,” he replied back, as a matter-of-fact.. 

It was true, she’d slowly crept into his life since coming to the Institute, the occasional sleepover where she’d return to her dorm first thing in the morning to get ready separately has transformed into something else entirely. Now they jokingly fight over the bathroom sink as they brush their teeth side-by-side. Her various toiletries had invaded his bathroom and shower shelves, a far cry from the scant distinctly male selection he’d kept beforehand.

“Surely with all the incoming students the Institute is going to need every available dorm?”

“This is your attempt at formally asking to move in?” Nick teases.

Sabrina pretends to play dumb, and avoids the question.

“I’m sure your room is pretty barren considering most of your stuff is here anyways...”

“And since I don’t sleep there much anymore, it’d be a shame to let such valuable space be heinously underutilized the way it currently is,” she replies cheekily.

“You make an excellent case Spellman,” he replies with a big smile  overtaking his features, unable to hide the joy he has at the thought of her moving in.

“Salem would have to come as well...” 

“As if I haven’t already picked out a cat bed for the little beast,” Nick teases, leaning in for a sweet kiss. 

Sabrina giggles, “you’re just lucky I haven’t put my lipstick on for the evening.”

“Speaking of, I need to get dressed,” he says before walking off to get his tuxedo on.

She sat in his desk chair, re purposing his writing desk as a vanity. She continues to apply some makeup, opting to do it the traditional mortal way. That is, until her eyeliner gets the best of her, practically taunting her to use magic.

She sees Nick in her peripherals and turns to look at him. Whatever it was when Nick’s jaw went slack at the sight of her earlier, Sabrina was experiencing the female equivalent of that. Her heart deciding now was a good time to beat rapidly. Sabrina is positive that she’s blushing, but she can’t bring herself to care.

Nick casually swipes the bow tie of the dresser and ties it quickly. His hands swiftly doing the motions as if it’s something he mastered centuries ago. 

She stands up to meet him and runs her hand up his neck, messing with his hair. She opens her mouth to compliment him but finds herself at a loss for words. Sometimes she just gets so taken with him, she gets lost in the moment.

He looks down at her curiously, resting his hands on her hips, “What’s on your mind?” 

“How hot you look in your tux,” she teases, biting her lip anxiously.

“You’re one to talk, I have no idea how I’m going to think about anything else with you looking like that,” he says taking her hand and twirling her around herself.

She slips into her heels and walks towards the door, putting some much needed distance between them. 

“Come on, we have places to be and if you keep sweet-talking me like that we’ll never leave the apartment,” Sabrina says, only partially joking.

Nick bites his tongue and follows her lead, more than happy to let her lead since he enjoys the view so much.

They walk through the Institute and they join the masses heading towards the ballroom. Ignoring the stares coming their way, most probably being due to the fact they’re seeing Nick in something other than his usual uniform. Some, coming from students realizing that his arm is wrapped around Sabrina Spellman’s waist.

It’s different from the Prefect’s party, in that they’re unable to hide behind the Guests of Honor and debauchery of a typical event at the Institute. Still, they’re making no attempt at hiding their relationship from anyone there. The two have a pace quicker than those around them, the hoards of people instinctively parting for them.

It isn’t until they’re actually there that Sabrina realizes she’s never been in the Institute’s Ballroom. It’s grand and formal, something akin to the rooms she’s seen in the Harry Potter movies Harvey had made her watch before he found out she was a witch.  

There’s formally dressed waiters, carrying plates of Hors d'oeuvres and flutes of champagne. 

“You should’ve given me more than two hours to mentally prepare for this,” she chastises softly.

“Are you uncomfortable?” he asks, slightly concerned.

“No, I’ve just never attended something this fancy in my life,” Sabrina admits, the closest thing being the winter formal at Baxter High, which she imagines didn’t even have the budget for the napkins at this affair.

“With your natural poise and grace? You’ll do just fine Sabrina,” he reassures her. 

“Are the waiters mortal?” she asks curiously, sensing something is a bit off with them.

“Yes, they’ll just be _debriefed_ afterwards. Don’t worry though, they’re paid well enough that a little amnesia is worth it,” Nick replies and Sabrina raises her eyebrows at the thought of being paid to work an event they’ll literally have no recollection of.

“Nick, everyone is staring at us...” She says with a smile, trying to hide the slight awkwardness she feels at being the center of attention among _all_ of her peers now knowing they’re together. 

Ambrose and Tabitha are some of the first people brave enough to approach them, they’ve seemingly attended as dates.

Tabitha interjects, “Sabrina, you look absolutely beautiful.”

“How’ve you gone this long without a drink in your hand Father Scratch?” Ambrose asks teasingly.

“Mind if I steal Sabrina for a moment?” Tabitha asks Nick, he gives Sabrina a questioning look, wanting to make sure she’s okay with it before actually allowing it to happen. Sabrina nods subtly, but unwaivering.  

“That’s up to Sabrina,” Nick says pointedly, joining Ambrose in his mission for a proper drink, leaving the two girls to their own devices.

Tabitha appreciatively watches his retreating form and Sabrina glares at her blatant gawking. 

“Please Sabrina, your possessiveness is unbecoming… besides, everyone else is looking at him the same way. And you for that matter,” she says, taking a sip from her champagne flute.

Sabrina gracefully swipes a flute from a tray in passing, deciding that she was going to need alcohol to tolerate the evenings interactions.

“So, how the fuck did this happen?” Tabitha asks bluntly.

“How did…? I mean, you already know about our relationship so I assume you mean going out publicly like this?” Sabrina questions.

“Precisely,” Tabitha confirms with a nod.

“We’re living together now, I guess it’s something pretty permanent. And sneaking around is only fun for a while until it gets tiring. Besides, the only thing I was hiding from was the judgement of my peers, maybe? which honestly, I don’t even care about. Besides, you’re the scariest person at the Institute and you already know,” Sabrina says nonchalantly, to which Tabitha smiles.

“You think I’m the scariest person at the Institute?” she asks as if she’s incredibly flattered.

“You certainly know how to control the social hierarchy at the Institute,” Sabrina replies and Tabitha seems like she’s floating on cloud nine.

“So you and Ambrose?” Sabrina questions, slightly curious at the pairing.

“It’s casual, might last until Lupercalia, we’ll see how things go. I think Tobias is trying to get in on it,” she says, as if polyamory is a normal practice; Sabrina supposes that it is, for witches at least.

“I always thought you and Tobias would look pretty together, at the very least,” Sabrina admits, not attempting to work against her cousin by any means, but just speaking her mind.

“I’ve known him for so long, it’s weird. It’d be like dating my brother, which I guess some witches are okay with for purity of the bloodline and what not, but it’s the 21st century now, and I’d rather not...” she says with a small laugh, Sabrina actually joining in.

Nick and Ambrose rejoin them, drinks in hand, one of which Nick hands Sabrina. Allowing her to place her now empty champagne flute on a random table. 

“What is this?” She questions Nick, curiously appraising the drink he handed her.

“A cosmopolitan,” he says devilishly, her mouth is agape slightly since he’s made fun of her in the past for drinking them.

“I wanted to make sure you actually enjoy yourself,” he says with a smirk, which earns him a small peck from the blonde, putting any onlookers doubts to rest.

He smirks again at her boldness, placing his hand firmly on the small of her back, holding her close to him. 

“You should probably start talking to some people, given that this is your Institution and all...” Sabrina reasons and Nick takes a big drink of his scotch.

“You’re absolutely right, but consider this, maybe I don’t want to,” he teases privately, glad that despite the grandeur of it all, he has someone to experience it with and poke fun at the formality of it all.

They make the rounds through the ballroom, meeting with many of the same High Priests they’d spoken with back at Le Salon du Magique.

There are too many bright eyed and bushy tailed hopeful students to count, they’re all hoping that somehow through a stroke of luck, the few minutes they’re able to spend with Headmaster Scratch will help their chances at admission. 

Though if he were honest, each time a new candidate came along and introduced themselves, he’d already forgotten the name of the last. That is until a trio approaches them, Nick instinctively wrapping his arm around Sabrina a little tighter, and standing a little taller himself.

“Agatha... Dorcas… Prudence,” he tersely greets each one of the Weird Sisters.

“Nicky, it’s been far too long,” Prudence says, taking her usual position as the alpha witch among her sisters.

“I assume you’re here because of Blackwood,” Nick states plainly.

“Yes, my own Father decided to kick me and my sisters to the curb, like we’re half-breeds,” Prudence replies, deliberately sending a smug look Sabrina’s way.

“If it wasn’t for the misogyny of the situation, I’d commend Blackwood for giving you the boot,” Sabrina replies, masking her bitter retort with a sweet smile.

“Sabrina Spellman,” Prudence begins cautiously, not even looking at her, instead opting to stare at Nick while addressing her, to see what kind of situation she’s dealing with.

“How on earth did you manage to bag our dear Nicky?” Agatha teases and just before Nick is able to interject and near-violently end the encounter, Sabrina speaks up.

“Certainly not by bending him to my will through the use of enchantment spells if that's what you're insinuating,” she spits at Agatha. 

She then shifts her attention to Prudence, being that she seems to be the head of their little trio, “though I understand why you feel like you wouldn’t have been able to date him without the aid of magic. I mean, without your _special abilities_ the three of you are painfully inadequate, and could have never landed such a powerful warlock by relying on your intellect and charms, after all, you can’t count on being saved by something that simply isn’t there to begin with...” 

Prudence is clearly caught in a predicament, never having been one to bite her tongue. However, she and her sisters are still working to get in Nick’s good graces being that they need a new place to stay given that they were kicked out of the Academy, with all the other witches. She holds back ripping Sabrina a new one.

“Oh, I can assure you that’s all behind us now. Isn’t it sisters?” Prudence asks somewhat menacingly.

“Yes,” Agatha and Dorcas answer with forced smiles.

“Well, there are 297 other witches and warlocks wanting to prove they’re worthy of admission, so we’ll see how you fare on the practical examinations, I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening,’ Nick says, being overly courteous and guiding Sabrina away from them to diffuse some of the tension. They walk to find someplace private, settling for an empty classroom away from the event.

“Why would you do that?” Nick asks, closing the door behind him. 

His jaw is clenched, the tension between them has made the air thicker. Sabrina takes a deep breath and feels her stomach drop at the exhale

“Do what?”

“Antagonize Prudence like that?”

“Honestly, I’ve been waiting to do that. You may have a history with them, but so do I, and it’s not pretty Nick. Finding out they manipulated you was just the cherry on top,” Sabrina admits.

“It just wasn’t the best way to go about things, she’s definitely going to retaliate now, regardless.”

Sabrina looks at him, slightly puzzled.

“The Sisters are already backed into a corner, being exiled from the Academy, having to come here, in an attempt to find somewhere else, with no other real options. Then you’re just rubbing salt into the wound. I know that probably made you feel a little better about everything, but you don’t want to start that sort of fight Sabrina,” Nick says, rubbing his temples as if he’s exasperated with her.

“Don’t let them into the Institute then, problem solved,” She says throwing her hands up, like she genuinely believes it’s that simple.

“I can’t do that, if they get in, they get in. The Anti-Pope would intervene if I didn’t grant a qualified student admittance. I would lose my position,” Nick replies through clenched teeth.

“I don’t get why you’re defending them!”

“I’m not defending them!”

“What about my admission? That wasn’t conventional by any means, what did the Anti-Pope have to say about that?”

“He didn’t have any objections to it as that would have been in direct violation of the Dark Lord’s will,” Nick grits out and Sabrina looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

“ _Why the Hell_ would the Dark Lord care that I attend _your_ school? Did the Dark Lord tell you to ask me out as well? Oh, _praise Lucifer Morningstar_ , maybe the Dark Lord will ask you to propose to me!” Sabrina bitterly exclaims, raising her voice for the first time, clearly angry that she feels her agency has been violated.

“You know, Father Blackwood would always say something was the Dark Lord’s will just to force his coven into submission when they dared to oppose him. Seems pretty similar to what you’re doing now Nicholas...”

Being compared to Father Blackwood struck a nerve in him.

“Are you really too much of a child to see what the far reaching implications of all of this mean?” Nick snaps, clearly at his end with her in their current conversation.

_A child?_

Sabrina glares at him, and in that moment, Nick knows that he’s royally fucked up.

“You know what, I’m just going to sleep in my dorm,” she states calmly. Backing up towards the door, and running out into the hallway. Placing a quick sealing spell on the classroom door if not just to slow him down.

“Sabrina, wait!” he calls out after her, frantically struggling to open the door. Flustered at their interaction, he’s not in a good headspace for any type of spellcasting at the moment.

Lilith, in Mrs. Wardwell’s body, had trailed Sabrina and Nick, having seen that they left the ballroom. The conversation she heard was disturbing, it troubled her to think the plan that had been moving along so smoothly, might be jeopardized. 

Sabrina makes it to the dorm common area when she hears the unmistakable laugh of Prudence Night and her Weird Sisters, ‘Half-Breed.” 

She continues walking down the hallway when she finds her feet glued to the ground.

“Oh, you’re not getting away that easy,” Prudence taunts.

Dorcas and Agatha use their magic to hold Sabrina in place. Despite her counter spells, she finds herself completely frozen, unable to move her feet.

“You might not be able to see it given that you’re so clearly blinded by your _love_ for him, but you’re just a little half-breed experiment for him. Nicky was absolutely obsessed with your father and if you don’t think that’s half of the interest he holds for you, you’re woefully ignorant. I mean, with your father dead, you’re the next best thing, right?” Prudence teases.

Sabrina’s close to breaking and she can’t take another second of any of this. Finding that she’s still able to speak, she sets her intention, being only that of her bedroom at the mortuary back in Greendale.

“ _Lacunae magicae, Volant per terram et supergreditur corporis legibus temporis!_ ” She chants, suddenly finding herself free of her entrapment.

The Weird Sisters exchange dumbfounded glances at each other, wondering where the Heavens Sabrina Spellman could’ve gone, and where she could’ve possibly learned to do that. 

* * *

Hilda hears a loud thud, as if something hit the ground on the hardwoods upstairs. It startles her, nearly causing her to burn her hands as she pulled her famous gingerbread pound cake out of the oven.

Zelda was the only other person in the house, and she was on the porch, smoking a cigarette. Hilda grabs a chef’s knife. Despite her powers, she’s watched enough soap operas to know that a knife is the best way to fend off a home invader. 

She walks slowly up the stairs, creeping through the hallway and opening each door one by one, scoping the room, before moving onto the next. When she opened the door to Sabrina’s room, Hilda screamed at the sight of her niece, face-down on the floor.

Sabrina shot up, startled at the screaming that woke her. Her heart’s pounding in her chest at an unnatural speed and she looks at the door frame. Her Aunt Hilda standing there, with a sheepish expression, and her hand tightly clenched around a knife.

“Sabrina, love. What are you doing home? And in _that_?” Hilda asks, referring to the evening gown she’s wearing. 

Sabrina laughs awkwardly, rubbing her forehead with her hand and wincing slightly at the tenderness.

“It’s a funny story Aunt Hilda, you’d love it,” Sabrina replies jokingly, attempting to be chipper but her exhaustion is just so overwhelming that she barely makes it to the bed before passing out again.

* * *

Nick runs through the halls of the Institute, quite literally running. En route to Sabrina’s dorm he passes through the common area and sees the Weird Sisters, talking in hushed tones, seemingly concerned _or_ conspiring, one of the two.

“Where’s Sabrina?” Nick asks, not having much patience, but figuring that they’d have answers.

“She just passed through here a few minutes ago…” Dorcas starts.

“Well we were hoping to talk with her, considering how everything went down, but she saw us and said an incantation, then she just disappeared into thin air,” Agatha assured him. 

“She just disappeared, mid-stride?” Nick asks, extremely skeptical of them. Not really trusting anything they say, other than the fact that Sabrina disappeared.

“Do you remember the incantation at all?” he asks.

“She said it really softly,” Dorcas adds.

“I only saw her lips move, didn’t hear a thing...” Agatha adds as well.

Prudence is just pacing like she’s trying to figure something out. They had her _bound_ and she managed not only to free herself from the bind, but also disappear somewhere else completely. _How on Satan’s earth did she manage to do that?_

Nick’s eyes widen, “ _fuck_.”

He realizes she probably physically apparated somewhere. Most likely back to Greendale, but they hadn’t done that yet, and he hopes that she wouldn’t be as reckless to try it for the first time on her own.  Though Sabrina wasn’t exactly known for her level-headed decision making, especially not when angry like this.

He also realizes that he’s probably the last person she wants to see right now, though he desperately wants to apparate to the mortuary just to make sure that she got there safe. He decides to take a page from her book, a mortal solution.

Picking up his phone, he dials the Mortuary’s number and is grateful when he hears Hilda pick up the line after a few rings.

“Spellman Mortuary, Hilda speaking, how may I help you?”

“Hilda, praise Satan. Is Sabrina there?” Nick asks, his worry causing his tone to falter a bit. 

“Yes, she’s up in her room. I’ll admit, I’m a little curious as to how she’s got there, though I suppose you have something to do with it...”

“Is she awake?” Nick asks, concerned.

“She was briefly, dead as a door nail now I’m afraid. You’re more than welcome to come over though if you’d like Nicholas, your presence is always appreciated here,” Hilda says, her tone sweet as honey though she knows something is amiss. With her finding Sabrina unconscious and the worry evident in Nick’s tone, she can’t help but wonder why her niece decided to return to Greendale in the middle of the school week.

“Could you let me know when she wakes up?” he asks, the most vulnerable he’s been with anybody other than Sabrina in years.

“Of course Dearie.”

“Thank you Hilda,” Nick says, hanging up the phone. He says a small prayer to the Dark Lord, thanking him that Sabrina made it home in one piece.

Nick doesn’t return to the ballroom, even though he knows he _should_ , he can’t bring himself to go back without Sabrina around his arm.

He retires back to his bedroom for the evening, though sleep doesn’t find him. His lonely bed is actually the last place he wants to be right now. The only thing he’s able to think about is their cheerful conversation earlier about them moving in together, Her beautiful laugh taunts him, filling his every thought. 

This was not how their night was supposed to go.


	15. The Bump

The beaded straps from her gown irritated her shoulders as she’d slept. Explaining the angry red marks that littered her décolletage and shoulders. Their night was supposed to go so differently, Sabrina pouted at the thought. She didn’t expect to find herself back in Greendale so soon. 

She felt humiliated, all she did was defend herself to the Sisters and Nick snapped at her. Then there was the additional issue of Nick proclaiming it was the Dark Lord’s will that she attend the Institute for the Divine Craft. Somehow stripping away the thought that she got in based on merit alone.

This was where Sabrina tended to struggle, too dense and headstrong to do exactly what Nick asked of her. _Consider the implications of the Dark Lord’s will._

Maybe it was the fact she was jaded by her Dark Baptism. Her misogynistic patriarchal experience with the Church of the Night has left a bad taste in her mouth regarding the Dark Lord. As funny as that may sound, considering she’s a witch who’s already signed her soul to the devil.

The Dark Lord surely wouldn’t ask Nick to admit an under-qualified student,  if anything it was the exact opposite. Sabrina Spellman was exceptional enough to have the Dark Lord advocate on her behalf.

Sabrina really just had trouble wrapping her mind around the idea that she was important to Satan himself, important enough to ensure she received the best education a witch could. 

_Could it be because she was a half-breed?_

Perhaps the Dark Lord saw her duality as a threat, or a challenge. Forgetting the fact that he was the one who sanctioned her parents union to begin with. He could have just been determined to keep her on the Path of Night. Maybe, the Dark Lord knew that Blackwood’s lunacy was souring her opinion of the church, he decided to refresh her view on things, by showing her a prophet of Lucifer so beautiful, she couldn’t help but fall in love with him and all the delicious things about being a witch.

It could’ve started with her witch trial, The Dark Lord being so disturbed with the idea one of his Children of Night had been Baptized in a Catholic Church of all places, that he was taunting the false God by showing him that despite her Baptism and two natures, the Path of Night was determined to win.

Her head continued to reel, the thought of the Weird Sisters at the Institute made her want to throw up. At least this time she has the upper-hand, with Tabitha and plenty of other friends from the Institute on her side. Hell. with Tabitha and Tobias alone at least they’d be evenly matched.

There was a light knock on her door, and Hilda gingerly made her way into the room.

“ _Gaaah_ ,” she exclaims, nearly dropping the tea she brought in.

“What is it?” Sabrina asks concerned.

Hilda gingerly gestures to her forehead, causing Sabrina to mimic her movements, feeling the large bump on her head for the first time.

“The pitfalls of apparition, I guess,” Sabrina mutters to herself.

“Well, I’ll get a treatment and some healing charms going. You must be famished dear, how about I whip up some pancakes? Get something in ya?” Hilda asks, finding that she really appreciates Hilda’s loving demeanor right now.

She pulls her Aunt into a tight hug and a jewel from her dress gets caught on the open knit of her sweater, pulling a thread slightly. Threatening to unravel, they have to separate carefully. 

“How about you get changed into something more comfortable then come down for some breakfast?”

Sabrina nods in agreement, more than happy to remove the dress that’s been scratching at her delicate skin.

She pulls on leggings and an old Oxford sweatshirt of Ambrose’s, the tattered navy crew neck providing her some much needed comfort.

Sitting at the kitchen table, she’s pleased to find Salem has found his way back to her. Even Zelda senses something is very amiss with her niece, and decides not to scold her for letting her familiar sit at the table.

Salem contentedly lounges in Sabrina’s lap, and everything that’s happened since she’s returned to Greendale has made her feel incredibly loved and cared for. She knows eventually, this bliss will end and she’ll have to explain herself.

“Sabrina what is that unsightly lump there for?” Her Aunt Zelda’s voice breaks the silence.

She just didn’t expect the bliss to end so soon, though it is _Zelda_ , so the interruption shouldn’t have surprised her.

“My first foray into long distance physical apparition. It’s a learning curve,” she reveals, stuffing a fork full of pancake into her mouth.

Zelda’s mouth is agape and her eyes widen incredulously, “Salire per spatium? _At your age?_ ”

“Nick’s teaching it to me,” she replies casually, and even though she wouldn’t usually be so quick to transfer the blame to someone else, Sabrina’s angry with Nick right now, so if he’s forced to face the wrath of Zelda Spellman, so be it

“Oh,” her demeanor softens and Sabrina is puzzled by her sudden acceptance of it. Clearly by her first reaction she was disapproving of it, but the mere mention of Nick made it acceptable in her eyes? Sabrina rolls her eyes at the hypocrisy of her aunts reaction.

Hilda rushes over with an enchanted herbal ice pack, placing it on her nieces head with the quick whispering of a healing incantation. Sabrina takes the pack and wedges it against her forehead, using her elbow on the table as leverage. 

Zelda rolls her eyes and mutters something about manners.

“So what are your plans for the day, niece? Surely you’re not planning on hiding out here during the school week.”

“Actually the performance based entrance examinations are being proctored today, so classes are cancelled, since the teachers have their hands full.”

“Regardless, we must return you to the Institute, I don’t know why you ran away during the middle of the school week but you should go back to where you belong,” Zelda threatens, clearly attempting to elicit a confession from Sabrina as to why she’s home right now.

“The Weird Sisters showed up at the entrance examinations...”  she says, hoping it’s enough to satiate Zelda’s curiosity.

“And?” she asks with a quirked brow, implying that’s not enough of a reason to have run home.

“And what?”

“You have the higher ground in this situation, make them bow before you,” she states plainly, not giving too much thought to it.

“Nick has history with the sisters and it caused a fight. _There._ ”

“Well, though I’m disappointed to hear that, I’m glad you’re not fleeing from another witch due to cowardice,” Zelda quips, taking a sip of her black coffee.

“Hilda, will drive you back into the city, I’m not going to risk allowing you to get anymore grotesque forehead welts,” she replies with a tone of finality.

* * *

Nick looks at his reflection in the mirror, only a night spent without Sabrina has left his skin looking sallow, with dark circles plaguing his under eyes.

He casts a glamour on himself, attempting to look less like a member of the walking dead. Even though he doesn’t particularly enjoy keeping up appearances like this, it’s a necessity considering that the _boil and bubble_ performance based exams are happening today, and he needs to look especially alert for them since it’s a more subjective test.

He walks through the halls with Ambrose trailing him, his demeanor being colder than normal. With Ambrose aptly being able to guess why considering he hasn’t seen his cousin since last night. Nick is taunted by various blondes bouncing through the hallway, the influx of aspiring young witches, making him more receptive to his surroundings.

The first few rounds go as normal, with Nick trusting his faculty to ensure a fair and just examination process. His mind is just constantly wandering off to Sabrina, hoping that she’s okay. It’s unlike him to let personal matters distract him from his professional duties, but he didn’t have many _personal matters_ until Sabrina entered his life.

“How many do we have so far?” Nick asks for the number regarding students who’ve completed the challenge flawlessly. 

“We have fifty three who’ve completed it without errors, with a hundred and fifty candidates left to evaluate,” Ambrose updates him, and it feels like it’s been hours, because it has.

After evaluating fifty more candidates, they break for lunch and Nick retreats back to his apartment, needing some solitude. Collapsing on his couch, he realizes that he desperately needed the break if he was going to make it through a hundred more evaluations.

* * *

He’s roused by someone shaking him, “Father Scratch.”

He rubs his eyes lazily, waking up from his nap, “we need you back downstairs to begin evaluations.”

Nick groans at Ambrose’s announcement, though he knows he’s right.

“Fine,” he gets up and briefly attempts to finger comb his hair into a more presentable style. The pair walk down to the examination area, Nick’s heart skipping a beat when he hears Sabrina’s laugh. Or at least a noise that sounds exactly like Sabrina’s laugh, he figures that he could just be hallucinating.

“Was that Sabrina?” Nick asks Ambrose, who responds with a shrug.

They sit through the remaining hundred students, which takes an eternity. Unfortunately, (yet predictably so) the Weird Sisters join the ranks of students who had error-free examinations, and once they finally break for the day, Nick couldn’t be more grateful for the reprieve.

He still has Black Mass to lead tonight, in which he shudders at the thought. It was really unlike him to behave this way, feeling so drained and unmotivated to do anything other than sulk until Sabrina was willing to speak with him.

* * *

Sabrina was wandering the halls of the Institute when Mrs. Wardwell decided to console her, noticing her glum demeanor from miles away. Reverting somewhat back to her Baxter High persona, _Lilith_ encourages Sabrina to spill her heart. Coaxing the impressionable young witch to confession with words of kindness and concern. 

Sabrina eagerly lays it all out, just happy she’s able to get everything off of her chest, and talk with someone who understands her duality, having been a part of her mortal life as well as her witching one. 

“Everything was as close to perfection as it could be, then everything just went to shit when he started defending the Weird Sisters. He kept insisting he has no say in the admissions process, so I brought up my own admission. He claimed that the Dark Lord asked him to admit me, that I was attending the school based on a Satanic devotion,” Sabrina confesses.

“It’s possible...” Lilith replies pointedly, trying to have Sabrina see the bigger picture.

“But he’s a High Priest, how do I know he just isn’t saying that?”

“Well I won’t argue the fact that men are liars Sabrina. You have to decide how much you trust him,” She replies back softly, hoping that Sabrina will ultimately allow her love for the boy to outweigh any distrust the scuffle had planted in her mind.

“Even if he is telling the truth, why would the Dark Lord care that I attend the Institute?”

“Sometimes he tests us, wanting to test our loyalty to blindly follow his command. Other times, he has plans much greater than any mere witch can comprehend. You’re clearly special Sabrina, why do you think he gave you the ability to summon fire from the pits, it’s not just power at play when Hellfire is involved. The Dark Lord himself has to deem you worthy of the Sacred energies used in the process. You’re one of four witches to have ever conjured Hellfire, Ms. Spellman. If I were you, I’d take that as proof enough that the Dark Lord has a special interest in you.”

“How do you know all of this Ms. Wardwell?” 

“I’m a professor Sabrina, it’s my job to know these things,” Lilith replies with a dismissive eye roll. Sending the young witch off, hopeful she comes to her senses and runs back into Nicholas Scratch’s arms.

* * *

The mass tonight is supposed to be a special one, taking place in the Satanic Cathedral in order to accommodate the visiting witches and warlocks. 

Nick’s wearing full Satanic regalia, the weight of the outfit becoming a physical manifestation of the weight that’s been pulling him down all day. His devotion to the Dark Lord, partially being the reason Sabrina isn’t speaking with him.

He hopes she’ll think about what he told her, consider why she’s so important to the Dark Lord. Maybe she’ll figure out something he hasn’t been able to. He wonders if she’s ever considered why she’s been able to do seemingly extraordinary feats; an exorcism, a cosmically imbalanced resurrection, entering limbo, and conjuring Hellfire… _twice._

He decides to center his sermon around the idea of empowerment. It’s more philosophical than any sermon he’s given in the past. He urges his parishioners to examine their purpose in serving the Dark Lord. Declaring that it’s their sacred prerogative to fully develop their powers and master their craft.

 _“_ As Children of Lucifer Morningstar, we are obligated to utilize and cultivate our powers to their fullest extent. If one chooses to sit complacent, they’d be wasting the gifts that our Dark Lord so mercifully bestowed upon us. Should ingrates continue to disrespect our Dark Lord with their lack of drive and respect towards their gifts, he holds the right to strip any witch of their powers, as he should. Our primary purpose is to serve and exalt the Dark Lord, any other Satanic delights one may choose to indulge in are secondary… _”_

Service is ended with the Satanic prayer, “ _O, Mighty Dark Lord, by whom all things are set afire - Thy power be thy path. Thy will be my desire. In Hell as it is on Earth. Praise Satan”_

Nick retires to the Chambers of Infernal Confession, his sacred obligation to hear out any Child of Night taking precedence over everything else.

There are fewer witches than usual, even an uncertain warlock who was so moved by the sermon he came to him, tearfully expressing his fears of inadequacy when it comes to cultivating his powers.

A few minutes pass with no new witches coming in for confession, Nick decides to head out when a rapping of knuckles on the door allow a soft groan to escape.

“Come in,” he announces begrudgingly, hoping that his feelings of annoyance won’t affect his tone too much.

He softens, his composure faltering when Sabrina walks into the room. 

“Come here,” he says softly, pulling her to him in a hug when she approaches him.

Sabrina pulls back rather swiftly,“ _Not now._ I need you to treat this like any other confession _Father Scratch_.”

Nick wants to reply, _you know I can’t do that._ But he’s obligated to adhere to her wishes given that he can’t interfere with Satanic Sacrament.

“Kneel before me Child,” Nick commands, obliging to her wishes.

Sabrina raises her hand to him, familiar with the process now. 

Nick lightly traces the tip of the knife against the skin of her palm. The blade being sharp enough to draw blood without any real pressure.

Sabrina attempts to keep a poker face, knowing that if Nick saw her wince it’d make him more reluctant to go through with it. She bites the inside of her cheek to distract from the pain.

“ _Tenebris Dominus: In hoc sanguinem, peto nos misericordiae tuae,”_ She pleads softly, asking for forgiveness

Nick takes her blood on his thumb, and paints the customary upside-down cross on her forehead. The previous welt from fainting during physical apparition now gone thanks to her Aunt Hilda’s exceptional healing abilities.

“Pray tell, what brings you to confession?”

“I’m lost,” she begins, unable to find the words. 

She’s staring at a point on the ground, not sure she’s able to face him directly.

Nick senses this and cradles her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him.

“Everyone around me has been telling me that I’m special. It’s not something I’m comfortable with hearing over and over again without understanding _why_. You’ve explained yourself, that I’ve been the subject of a Satanic devotion coming directly from the Dark Lord. Ms. Wardwell pointed out that I’m one of four witches to have ever summoned Hellfire. All of this points to something so much bigger than I am, and I’m not sure I can do this without knowing what I’m contributing to.”

“The things that The Dark Lord has asked of me in the past were manageable,” she says, as if being asked to burn down her High School was _manageable._

“But what if he asks something of me, that I can’t do?” she questions, vulnerably.

“The Dark Lord will never ask you to perform a devotion that you’re incapable of completing,” Nick assures her with a kiss on her hairline.

“I don’t mean something that I’m physically incapable of… more along the lines of a devotion I’m unwilling to complete, _or morally opposed to_ ,” she confesses, mumbling the last part since she thinks he might find it juvenile.

“You know what you agreed to when you signed your name in the Book of the Beast,” Nick states plainly.

Sabrina scrunches her nose, remembering Blackwood's promises of free will, then his backtracking at her Dark Baptism in which he basically said the exact opposite. 

”What if the Dark Lord only wants to control me because I don’t fit the mold of a full-blooded witch. I was Baptized in a Catholic Church as a baby,” Sabrina reasons, once again averting her gaze to the floor.

“Why would he give you the powers he has? if he wanted to keep you completely submissive to him... seems a little counter-intuitive.”

“Nick, I’m not like you. I still have the moral compass and life experiences of a mortal that separates me from everyone else here.”

“While a little projection regarding the future is useful, you shouldn’t be worrying yourself like this. Take things as they come, please,” he urges.

“I’m sorry… for last night, I know your job comes first and I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that,” Sabrina sincerely apologizes.

“I’m sorry as well, I didn’t mean to make you feel like I wasn’t on your side. I love you Sabrina, and at the time it felt like you were needlessly endangering yourself by antagonizing the sisters. I can’t intervene in matters like that, I felt powerless in that position.”

“I love you Nick,” she assures him, pulling his face to her own and meeting him for a fervent kiss, as if she’s trying to make up for lost time.

Things get hot and heavy on the floor of the confessional chambers, Nick interrupts their kissing marathon with a plea, “move in with me?”

Sabrina nods, eager to reassure him that things are fine now.

“Speaking of which, we should probably move this over there?” she suggests.

Nick smiles at their reconciliation, “Sounds like a good idea.”

* * *

Sabrina wakes up with a smile on her face. She makes breakfast in his kitchen. Then she realizes that technically it’s _their_ kitchen now. The thought alone causing another small smile to grace her features. 

Nick stirs slightly, at the clatter of kitchen utensils. In his mental fog he reaches across the bed hoping to pull a small blonde into his arms, and his open when he comes up short. He sits up in the bed and smiles at the sight of Sabrina dancing in kitchen, a doo-wop song from the 60’s being softly played on the record player she brought over from her dorm.

He’s surprised to see her so active this early in the morning, it’s not even eight am and Sabrina’s acting like she’s ready to conquer the day. The sight of her dancing, blissfully unaware of his waking, is motivation enough to bring him to his feet.

He walks over to her and starts dancing once he’s in a few feet of her, making enough noise so she’s not startled while working with the hot pan. She smiles brightly at the sight of Nick awake, seemingly in as good of a mood as she is.

He places his hands on her waist as she works and kisses her neck, to which she playfully slaps his arm, in an attempt to get him to move away.

“One minute!” She playfully chides at him.

He leaves her for a moment to pour himself a cup of coffee, incredibly happy that she put a pot on.

Nick sits down at the table and rests his head in his hands, “I have no idea how you’ve managed to have this kind of energy this early in the morning.”

She sets a plate of food down in front of him, causing him to perk up.

“I had a really good night, figured I’d carry that energy over into today,” she says with a smile.

Nick takes a moment to sit in awe of her before reverting back to his cheeky self, “that good of a night, huh?”

She teasingly rolls her eyes and throws a piece of her pancake at him, “don’t look so smug.”

* * *

147 students had aced the potions examination, meaning that there were at least 147 candidates for guaranteed admission, should they pass the conjuration examination

However, the conjuration challenge was infamous for its difficulty. Candidates spent months preparing specifically for it, but given that it was created by Headmaster Scratch himself, no one really knew what to expect until the day of. 

Nick took a sick pleasure in the fact that he was able to keep people on their toes like this, even the proctors were left in the dark when it came to the conjuration challenge. Sabrina wasn’t quite sure what she was expecting, but it was entertaining to watch people nervously fidget. She was only glad she didn’t have to partake.

 _Lilith_ was relieved to see Sabrina and Nick friendly with each other again. Pleased that she seemingly nudged her charge in the right direction. 

Sabrina and Nick part ways, knowing that she needs to return with her peers, and Nick with his colleagues. While there still aren’t any classes today, there’s a solid amount of student still at the Institute, mainly hanging out in dormitory common rooms and student lounges. 

Somehow, Tabitha and Tobias managed to organize their groups into slight harmony. Sophia always having been skeptical of Tabitha and her crew, was actually finding herself to enjoy being around them, finding that being around other girls was a breath of fresh air from the boys club she typically ran with.

So when Sabrina stumbles upon the scene of a giant orgy taking place in the dormitory common room she’s taken aback. Being surrounded by witches for a while now, she’s walked into her fair share of orgies, but it still always manages to catch her off guard. 

“Join us Sabrina, we’re just warming up for Lupercalia,” Tabitha urges. Endicott toys with one of the straps on Ellie’s garter belt. Sophia and Madison find themselves in a sensual sapphic embrace.

Meanwhile Tabitha is being kissed up her leg by, “Ambrose?!?”

Sabrina questions in shock, though she isn’t actually shocked by it, it’s just a little off-putting to witness your cousin practically going down on someone in a public space. 

Ambrose shrugs casually and Sabrina hastily excuses herself, “I’m going to go.”

“We were all going into the city tonight if you’re interested,” Tabitha adds before Sabrina can escape, as if she is completely unfazed by everyone around her continuing their sexual pursuits like Sabrina never entered the room.

“Okay, sure. See you later,” Sabrina awkwardly replies, excusing herself and practically running out of the room.

She wanders through the halls, intending to settle in the library for a bit when she recognizes some familiar faces in the hallway outside of the dining hall. 

“Melvin, Elspeth, Audrey, Nice to see some familiar faces,” she greets and they’re all surprised to see her.

“See! It _was_ her,” Audrey says slapping Elspeth’s shoulder.

“Wow, Sabrina. We weren’t expecting to see you here,” Elspeth remarks, causing Sabrina to quirk an eyebrow.

“Father Blackwood and Prudence were telling everyone that you ran away in shame, back to your mortal school,” Melvin clarifies.

Sabrina raises her eyebrows, clearly amused by what she’s hearing, “No, I left the Academy after one too many disagreements with Blackwood. Transferred to the Institute and I’ve been here ever since… Now Elspeth and Audrey, I get why you’re here. But why exactly are you here Melvin?”

He laughs awkwardly and rubs the back of his neck, clearly caught off guard by her interest in him, “Father Blackwood kind of went off the rails, didn’t want to stick around for the eventual demise of the coven, besides Headmaster Scratch has quite the reputation.”

Sabrina smiles at this, “Is that so?”

“Yeah, I think his leadership is why most people come to the Institute,” Audrey remarks.

“So the Institute’s long standing reputation of academic excellence and exclusivity is second to Father Scratch’s own reputation? I’ll be sure to relay the message,” she teases.

“We saw you at the reception the other night, I didn’t believe it was you because of what we’d been told otherwise...” Elspeth starts before Audrey manages to cut her off.

“So are you _with_ Headmaster Scratch?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that against some sort of rule?” Audrey asks somewhat judgmentally, _or maybe it’s jealousy?_

Sabrina isn’t sure, so she deflects, “No, now enough about my personal life, how do guys think you’ve performed on your examinations?”

“Well, we’ve made it this far,” Elspeth says optimistically.

“I have some backup schools lined up already, I just hope I don’t need them...” Melvin confesses and Sabrina wants to cast a spell to help his confidence, but obviously decides against it considering that it’s strictly prohibited to interfere with the admissions process.

“I’m sure you’ll all do great, so none of you have taken the practical conjuration examination yet?”

They all confirm her suspicions and she shrugs. Sabrina hates being out of the look, but she’s sure Nick will fill her in on everything later.

“Well, I’m going to leave, but I hope to see the three of you around the Institute soon,” she says, wishing them luck and leaving her former schoolmates behind.

* * *

When Sabrina returns to the apartment after dinner, she’s happy to see Nick is already there. Even if he’s just sitting at his desk, intently focused on the papers in front of him. She walks over and sits on part of the desk that isn’t covered in papers, kicking her feet up into the air..

“Apparently you’re the main attraction for most of the students coming here...” Sabrina says casually, though it’s true, she’s curious as to how he’ll take the information.

“Of course I am...” he jokes, not really believing her. Still attempting to look over these Godforsaken information sheets of the prospective students..

“I’m serious Nick, I spoke with a few today and they’re all pretty excited with the direction you’ve been taking the church,” she says, hopping down off of the desk. 

She walks behind him, rubbing his shoulders lovingly as he looks over notes on potential candidates.

“How many students are in already?”

“Eighty four,” he replies enunciating each syllable like he’s displeased with it.

Sabrina looks at him with concern, urging him to vocalize what he’s obviously thinking.

“It’s annoying the number isn’t higher, now we have to sort through the remaining 216 students and decide which ones deserve to take the 116 spots. It just means more work...”

“Is the number lower than normal?”

“Yes, but I think I’m partially to blame. The conjuration exercise I gave this year was a little too much…” he admits, fighting off an amused smirk.

“It was worth it though, very entertaining at times,” he states.

“Well you can’t just not tell me what you gave them.” 

“Technically I _could,_ but I like you enough that I won’t leave you in the dark,” he says with a wink.

“I extensively utilized homonyms and homophones in the tasks they were assigned. It really exploited the already nervous students but it also tripped up a few of the overly confident ones who couldn’t focus their intent.”

“Any specific examples?” Sabrina probes excitedly, wanting to hear the juicy details.

“Lots of instances where there were flowers in lieu of flour, baseball bats instead of the creature, all of that and vice versa,” he says, letting out the amused chuckle he had to keep in throughout the examinations.

“You are _evil_ , Nicholas Scratch,” she jokes and runs her fingers through his curls.

“It was one of the more enjoyable years, that’s for sure. It might seem juvenile at surface level but it really tested their ability to concentrate and actually read the instructions,” he reasons and she stares at him for a few seconds.

Nick shifts under her gaze, but Sabrina’s quick to end it, leaning in and placing a loving kiss square on his lips. Pulling away, she takes a deep breath. 

“Any bad news?” She asks, and he immediately knows what- rather _whom-_ she’s referring to.

“Prudence and Agatha are in. Dorcas flubbed the conjuration exercise,” Nick states plainly, watching Sabrina closely to gauge her reaction.

“That’s fine. Obviously, there’s nothing more that can be done at this point anyways. But, I’m not too concerned. Even if Dorcas gets in, there’s nothing to worry about...” Sabrina assures herself, remembering what her Aunt Zelda had said about her having the high ground.

“Besides, it’ll be entertaining to watch Prudence attempt to come for Tabitha,” Sabrina mentions, hoping to find a positive in the situation.

“Melvin and Elspeth are in as well,” Nick states.

“How did you kno-”

“I took note of which students were from the Academy, figured you’d want to know...” he plays it off coolly, but she touched he thought to do that for her.

“Melvin? I can’t believe it! He’s usually such a nervous wreck about things like that,” she remarks.

“He seemed to be much more cautious than many of the other candidates, it worked to his advantage anyways...”

“Did you take the night off or is Black Mass going on as usual?”

“ _Night off,_ made the excuse that I had to review candidate profiles to prepare for interviews tomorrow...” Nick says with a devious smile.

“Well, I guess I should let you focus then...” she starts to head over to the couch.

“Get back here Spellman,” he calls after her.

Sabrina looks over her shoulder, sending a sultry look his way, “make me.”


	16. The Mortals Visit

Interviews wrapped up Friday afternoon. Thanks to entrance examinations, Ambrose has been holed up with Nick and the other members of the admissions committee, unable to catch a break. 

Sabrina, on the other hand, headed back to Greendale for a much needed break from the madness of it all. She feels somewhat guilty leaving Nick while he’s swamped with work, but it needed to get done one way or another and she figures that she probably would’ve just distracted him anyways.

She wasn’t too excited to relay the information to her Aunties, knowing that she’ll be further squeezed for information regarding her midweek return, but thankfully since she and Nick are back together again, it should be somewhat easy to deflect their questions.

Saturday night, she heads to a party Roz is throwing, her parents are out of town for a church retreat, so the rare empty house was a welcome invitation for them.

It was more of a party than Sabrina could have ever anticipated, she didn’t realize that Roz even knew that many people. Theo and Sabrina hang out by the kitchen, waiting for Roz to return from whoever she’s greeting. 

“Where’s Harvey?” Sabrina asks casually, not actually interested in him, but still wanting to know his whereabouts so she can avoid him if need be.

“He ran out to get snacks, should be back pretty soon,” Theo says, enjoying being a wallflower for a bit.

“Who are all these people? I don’t even recognize them from Baxter...” Sabrina muses.

“Apparently a lot of them are from Roz’s youth group, then the rest are friends of friends...” He says with a shrug.

“I didn’t expect church kids to be this… _wild_?” She states, eyes wide at the sexually charged, partially inebriated teenagers grinding in front of her.

“I know, it’s a little off putting...” Theo replies, taking a long sip from the jungle juice concoction Roz had made earlier.

“What’s in that?” Sabrina asks with a laugh.

 “I think pineapple juice, Sunny D, vodka… maybe everything,” Theo replies with raised eyebrows.

“It’s not as bad as you’d think, you should try it.”

“I need to keep my wits about me, never know what these church kids are capable of,” Sabrina teases.

While a lighthearted joke, Sabrina couldn’t have been aware of the evangangelists over by the fireplace, blissfully unaware that once they receive news that the white haired girl was a witch, Sabrina would become their primary target.

Roz comes back over to them, the music blaring throughout the house. Normally there’d be concerns that the noise would bother neighbors, but thankfully the Walkers have a nice secluded property with acreage. 

One of Roz’s friends walks her over to them and she smiles bringing the blonde in for a tight hug, “I’m so happy you’re here!”

“This party is insane Roz!” Sabrina yells over the music 

“Thank you,” Roz says pointedly. 

“And you thought church kids didn’t know how to party,” Roz teases, smacking Theo on the arm. 

“I brought snacks,” Harvey starts making a beeline for the kitchen. Nearly stopping in his tracks when he sees Sabrina. He knew Roz invited her, but he didn’t expect that she’d actually come.

“Brina?” he asks, seemingly in shock.

“Hey, _Harvey_ ,” she goes back, somewhat awkwardly. He was calling her _Brina_ again?

He sets the chips down on the counter before kissing Roz on the cheek and wrapping an arm around her.

Thankfully she had enough time to digest the relationship in advance, so she wasn’t too put off. Still, it was somewhat weird seeing her best-friend with her ex-boyfriend.

More than anything, she wants to ask about Roz’s eyes, check up on her. But the mood is light, and this is the most carefree she’s seen Roz in a while, so she figures she’ll just ask some other time. 

“So, how have things been going at your new school?” Roz asks, genuinely interested in what her friend’s been up to.

“It’s super hectic right now. They just did the admissions test for _freshman_ , so there were a ton of strangers there this week,” Sabrina complains, and starts an internal debate with herself about indulging in a cup of jungle juice, just to help take the edge off.

“Sounds horrible,” Theo comments.

“Remind me where is your school again?” 

“It’s in the City, you guys should come visit! I’ll show you around Manhattan,” she says excitedly, being straightforward with her optimism. 

Now that things are so solid with Nick, being around Harvey isn’t bothering her anymore. 

“Yeah, I’m not sure the city is really my thing,” Theo starts to protest slightly.

“Come on! You’d love the Met, we could go to a comedy club or something,” she suggests, hoping that her old friends at least consider it. Being around them right now almost reminds her of how things used to be, well of course, minus her relationship with Harvey.

“I’m free next weekend?” Roz suggests hopefully, clearly onboard with the idea.

Harvey seems alright with the idea, mainly wanting to make Roz happy, he agrees.

“What about parking? My uncle’s said it’s impossible to find parking in the city,” Theo says, still not completely sold on the idea.

“Leave that to me,” Sabrina replies with a wink.

The night wraps up with a few hysterical games of Cards Against Humanity. Despite all their differences, Sabrina doesn’t find the church kids too bad. 

Sure she was friends with Roz, but she had always considered her to be the exception to the rule. Tonight however, has proven otherwise. She lets out a contented sigh as people start to filter out of the house around 2am, she agreed earlier to help clean up, and wasn’t going to back out of it. Not now, when things were more normal between the four of them than they had been for a long time.

While picking up empty soda cans and napkins used as coasters, Sabrina begins to wonder if the church kids would give her the same chance, if they knew of her nature. She’s sure most of them would be off put by the fact she’s unironically used the phrase ‘Praise Satan,’ even once in her life.

“Thanks so much for staying to help out guys,” Roz says appreciatively.

“If I’m being honest this is the least damage I’ve ever seen from a party,” Sabrina states.

“Yeah, at least church kids seem to be courteous,” Theo interjects.

“I’m glad you got to meet them, hopefully you were pleasantly surprised.”

“Definitely,” Theo confirms.

“I’m going to head out, it’s pretty late...” Sabrina says.

“Do you need a ride home?” Roz offers, she considers attempting to apparate home, but she’s exhausted and doesn’t want to risk it.

“Sure.” 

The ride to the Spellman Mortuary is had in cathartic silence, all four of them are shoved into Roz’s Toyota Prius. Harvey drives for obvious reasons, Roz sitting shotgun in her own car, while Sabrina and Theo sit in the back.

“You sure know how to throw a party Roz,” Sabrina says, breaking the silence.

“Thanks, felt like I had to take advantage of my parents being gone, especially before _everything’s_ black,” she says, obviously referencing her eyesight, she doesn’t seem as angry about it anymore. It’s like she’s come to terms with it.

Sabrina observed the way she acted with Harvey all night. Though it brought up some unpleasant memories for her, Harvey and Roz looked really good together. Sabrina doesn’t recall ever seeing Roz laugh as much as she did tonight. So if this relationship was really making the two of them this happy, it had Sabrina’s unholy blessing.

“I hope you guys will come to the city with me. It’s definitely something you should experience,” She urges, continuing to sell the idea to her friends.

“We’ll come,” Harvey states plainly and Roz looks at him in surprise. 

“Goodnight guys, I really had fun tonight,” Sabrina says as they pull up the Spellman’s long driveway. 

“So glad you came Sabrina,” Roz says warmly.

“Yeah we’ve missed you,” Theo adds with a small smile.

The trio watches as Sabrina’s blonde bob retreats up the driveway, and if only for a night, things felt somewhat normal for the formerly tight-knit group.

* * *

Mid-February came quick. Sabrina showed her friends around the decorated city, twinkling lights still left up from the New Year and Christmas celebrations added an air of festivity to the concrete jungle. 

They went ice skating in Central Park, Harvey holding Roz tight to him, and Sabrina having to do the same for Theo. Not because he was partially blind like Roz, quite frankly, he just sucked.

With Nick’s help, Sabrina was able to get her friends accomodations in the city. Not at the Institute, since Mortals were forbidden from entering, but they got a suite at the swanky Bramford hotel. 

As they drank complimentary cider and hot chocolate by one of the lobby’s many fireplaces, Sabrina realized that having a boyfriend with friends in high places certainly had its benefits.

She never considered him to be a sugar daddy in the slightest sense of the word, but that’s the term that Roz and Theo kept throwing around. Every mention of it causing Harvey to uncomfortably shift in his chair.

“So are we ever going to meet this guy?” Roz questions.

Sabrina shoots an awkward look towards Harvey, wanting to check where he was at emotionally. While it was clear they both moved on from each other, she still wanted to keep it civil between them; and parading her hot new boyfriend around wasn’t exactly the best way to go about that.

Harvey sits up a little straighter and pulls Roz closer to him, it surprises her when Harvey nearly encourages it, “yeah, we’ll have to meet him eventually, right?”

“I could have him join us? If that’s something you’re all okay with. I don’t want to impose him on you guys...” Sabrina says sheepishly.

“ _Impose on us?_ Isn’t he the one footing the bill for all _this_?” Theo asks, gesturing wildly with his arms to the ornate surroundings.

Sabrina excuses herself to call him, “Hey, I understand if you’re busy but I’m hanging out at the hotel with Roz, Theo, and Harvey, and they all kind of want to meet you. But I totally get it if you don’t want to come because it’s pretty weird and I don’t know why I’m even asking yo-”

_“Woah, woah, woah. Spellman, take a breather. You’re rambling, what’s going on? “_

“Do you want to come meet my friends?” she asks nervously, hoping that she hasn’t put him in a weird position, even though she figures that she most definitely has.

“ _The mortals?_ ” he asks for clarification, knowing that she was going to be hanging out with them today, but just wanting to make sure.

“Yes, we’re at the hotel right now, having some drinks and relaxing. It’ll be very low-pressure I promise,” She assures him.

 _“You know, I’d do anything for you Sabrina Spellman. I love you and I’ll be right over,”_ he replies, making her practically melt. 

The past week or two it seems like he’s been extra vocal about his devotion to her, perhaps it was just a coincidence, but she had a feeling he was trying to make sure her first Lupercalia was perfect. This slow and steady seduction, serving merely as foreplay for the lust-filled festival that was fast approaching. 

She returns to her friends and notices that Theo has swapped seats so that when Nick arrives he could sit next to Sabrina.

“I’m really glad you guys decided to come,” Sabrina professes to her friends, glad that the awkward tension between them was practically nonexistent.

Roz, Theo, and Harvey start arguing about the latest Tarantino film they just watched last week, Sabrina considers interjecting, but her knowledge of film theory is somewhat limited to the horror genre. 

Her eyes are trained on the many doorways leading to where they are, her gaze shifting every few seconds in hopes that Nick will appear.

When she finally sees him approach, a current of desire courses through her. He’s in a light button down, grey jeans, and a black utility jacket. She notes that he looks incredibly handsome and well dressed, but also somewhat like he couldn’t quite figure out what the dress code was since she didn’t specify.

He walks over and leans down to kiss her, clearly unable to fight the routine. He refocuses on the group and introduces himself, shaking each one of their hands and getting to know them.

Even Harvey seems a little impressed, Sabrina can’t help but smile. Nick has that effect on people, she entertains the idea that he used a charm before coming in, but is sure that he didn’t. His natural charisma had earned him the title of High Priest, so she’s figures he wouldn’t have any trouble with a few mortals. Who usually, were already pretty taken with witches in a way inexplicable to them. 

Nick has nearly all the attributes of a natural born leader, but the most compelling one of his traits, is that he’s able to make whoever he speaks with, feel like they’re the most important person in the room- regardless of the situation- if only for a moment.

She’s pleased to hear her friends thank him for the hotel, of course Nick refutes this, insisting that “it’s nothing.” 

But Sabrina’s especially thankful at the fact her friends have manners. Considering that Nick has complained on numerous occasions in the past about how dense and inconsiderate mortals can be, she was hoping they would help dispel some of the pretenses he holds about mortals.

Settling down, Nick places his hand on the inside of her thigh. 

A formally dressed hotel worker brings over a silver platter with champagne flutes on them, setting the tray down on the coffee table in the center of their group. Nick and Sabrina each take one, with her friends staring skeptically at the tray. Nick brings the glass to his lips, taking a sip.

The worker smiles handsomely, and makes a point of addressing Nick, “Courtesy of Mr. Morningstar.” 

Nick nearly chokes, his eyes widen with shock and he shares a look of concern with Sabrina, hopeful her mortal friends didn’t just catch his knee jerk reaction.

“Who’s Mr. Morningstar?” Theo asks curiously, taking a glass for himself.

Nick presses his lips together thoughtfully, trying to come up with an answer for him.

“A friend of my Father’s, he’s technically the one who arranged this,” Nick fibs.

“Pretty epic name,” Harvey comments.

Sabrina can tell that Nick wants to get away from her friends, figure out why the Heaven that just happened. Perhaps a student at the Institute is pranking them, but given the decadence of it all, it’s doubtful.

“So Nick, how old are you?”

“Eighteen,” he lies.

“And people just send you champagne?” Harvey asks with a quirked brow, clearly having trouble digesting the situation. 

“The city functions a little differently than you’re used to Farm Boy,” Nick quips back with an edge.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he says before standing up and leaving rather abruptly to track down the waiter that gave him drinks.

“I’m sorry, he’s not usually like that,” Sabrina offers weakly.

“So he’s a witch right?” Roz questions, unable to hold in her curiosity now that he’s left.

“Technically a Warlock, he’s a Senior at the Institute,” Sabrina replies, trying to help cover up some of the suspicion she’s sure they have about Nick.

“So what happens when you graduate from Witch school?” Harvey asks in a somewhat condescending tone, he didn’t exactly appreciate Nick calling him _Farm Boy._

“You go to Hogwarts for postgraduate studies,” Sabrina deadpans, Roz and Theo laugh at an inappropriately loud volume given the setting, and even Harvey cracks a smile.

“Most witches sort of do what they want… My cousin Ambrose went to Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, and a few other places.” 

“Sabrina, how old is your cousin?” Harvey questions, genuinely curious because he’s never asked.

“I don’t know… A little over a hundred?”

“Wow,” Roz’s eyes widen.

“And your Aunts?”

“Truthfully, I don’t even know,” she confesses, taking another sip of champagne for a break from the interrogation. She can’t blame them though, she’d kept this part of her life hidden from them for so long that they probably just want answers at this point.

“So if your cousin is over a hundred and looks like that-”

“Yes, I’m going to outlive you,” she states, addressing the inevitable.

“And you’ll look twenty while we’re all bags of skin,” Roz jokes, trying to make light of the uncomfortable thoughts she’s having. 

“As my Aunt Zelda would put it, _that’s the peril of being a witch who consorts with mortals,”_ Sabrina says, imitating Zelda’s proper tone.

The air between them is suddenly thick, so Sabrina takes the opportunity to excuse herself. 

“I’m going to check up on Nick, I’ll see you guys tomorrow?” She asks hopefully before running off to find him.

She looks around for him, and he’s nowhere to be found. She calls him and gets the answering machine. Holding the charm on the necklace he’d given her, she tries a small divination spell in an attempt to find out where he is. 

It works and some magical energies lead her to his location, outside, seemingly torturing the waiter from before for any information.

“For the millionth time, I don’t know anything,” the hotel worker insists, Nick holding him steady in place with his powers.

“Nick,” Sabrina calls to him.

His expression softens and he lets the worker go, walking over to Sabrina. Mid-stride he holds out an arm, and casts a quick memory wiping spell on the man.

He closes the space between them and pulls Sabrina into a tight embrace, “I can’t make sense of any of this.”

His voice is the most vulnerable she’s heard, and it breaks her heart slightly. She attempts to soothe him, which works for a while before they head back to the Institute. 

* * *

They went back to Nick’s apartment, exhausted, but neither one of them able to sleep. 

Sabrina stirs, her legs are restless and she desperately wants to do _something_. More than anything, she wants to pace the length of the apartment, but she’d already done that for a solid hour before Nick forced her to join him on the bed.

She’s been attempting to decompress but nothings been working. The meditation exercises her Aunt Hilda taught her years ago were painfully fruitless tonight.

Deciding that they needed to relax one way or another, she sits up and starts to fiddle with the buttons on Nick’s shirt. She starts her mission, lovingly kissing her way down his body. Each unbuttoned section, exposed more of his perfect olive skin. Nick let out a small sigh of appreciation, and Sabrina smiled in response. She just wanted to take their minds off of things, if only for a moment.

She beckons him to sit up straight, so she can properly remove the shirt. Once it’s gone, he’s found a new position, resting against the headboard. Sabrina takes advantage of their new positioning and straddles him, closing whatever space was left between them.

She gently brushes his cheek with the back of her hand, rotating her wrist in a swift motion so she can run her fingers through his hair in a loving gesture. Nick rests his hands on her upper thighs, rubbing them appreciatively.

“We can figure this out tomorrow,” she promises earnestly.

He gets lost in her promise. It’s the way she’s looking at him, as if he’s the only thing that matters to her, that sets him alight with a passion so intense, that he’d set the world to flame if she asked him to. In that moment, he decides that Sabrina Spellman is the only thing that matters

As if reading his mind, she stares deeply into his eyes, “I love you Nick.”

“You’re the love of my life Sabrina Spellman,” he says with conviction.

She melts into him, becoming a tangled mess of limbs as they both attempt to have as much of each other as possible. 

Her initial goal of taking their minds off of things is far surpassed. Nick’s fingers making masterful work of her most sensitive places. His thumbs rubbed euphoria-inducing circles over her hard nipples, trailing the tips of his fingers across her torso in his prolonged teasing. All she wants to do is lean further into his touch, but as she attempts to, he pulls back and teases her further, his nibbling of her earlobe and the sensations it brings sending pleasant shakes throughout her body.

His hands dip below her waist and she quivers under his masterful touch, Sabrina nearly forgets her own existence. Being transported to a plane far beyond the astral realm with each subsequent orgasm. 

Nick’s somewhere similar, the constant edging he’s been forcing upon himself putting him in a headspace completely separate from coherent thoughts. It’s only when Sabrina pushes him off of her to straddle him that he’s able to release completely. 

The way she rode him was particularly unforgiving, rough and desperate, it was the most exquisite torture he’d experienced in his life thus far. Being stripped of his dominant position, subject to the merciless will of the little enchantress that lay before him. Nick was utterly spent. 

Sleep comes naturally at that point, wrapped tightly in each others arms, the postcoital influx of dopamine managed to bring a euphoric calmness to the couple, allowing them to forget the stress of the evening and rest their heads.


	17. The Matching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Matching; during which, one is paired with a random warlock.

As Lilith and Lucifer did in the barren Hellscape of Gehenna, Sabrina and Nick rang in the start of the Lupercalia festivities, a tangled mess of limbs. Today, the students of the Institute, and coven members from the Church of Lucifer and beyond, were to embark on their journey to a large inn, just over an hour north of the city. 

Nick and Sabrina ride separately from the caravan in his vintage jet-black Impala, enjoying the privacy. Many of the students were arriving by train, a convenient station in a neighboring town allowed for the attending witches to leave directly from Grand Central Station.

Sabrina thumbed through the map of the grounds, room assignments, and carefully planned out itinerary, all of which she was sure Ambrose was responsible for. A misplaced list caught her interest, bullet points that detailed the Institute’s course offerings and who was teaching them.

There were the typical courses that Sabrina was already familiar with, though some new additions piqued her interest. 

“Can I choose my classes?”

“You know I can’t give you preferential treatment,” Nick says, a teasing smirk playing on his features.

Sabrina pouts in an overly dramatic fashion, causing Nick to chuckle slightly, still focusing on the road, but amused by her antics.

Her eyes crossed over the lists offerings. Professor Kraft was teaching three different levels of Demonology, which had her wondering which level she was in, given the fact that her course schedule had just simply said ‘demonology.’ _ Historical Demonology  _ (the Intro Course),  _ Practical Demonology _ (a hands-on intermediate level course), and  _ Advanced Demonology Capstone _ , which had no further denotation other than a footnote that stated ‘enrollment subject to instructor/headmaster approval.’

There were Madame Divine’s courses;  _ Herbalism, Charms, & Healing _ ,  _ Sacred Geometry _ , and  _ Potions _ . The potions course also had an additional section containing coursework on Alchemy.

Mrs. Wardwell was going to continue with teaching  _ Divination _ , while a new hire- Professor Evangeline Porter- was going to take the reigns of transitioning  _ Satanic Choir  _ and  _ Drama  _ from their current extracurricular status to actual courses.

Mrs. Evelyn Gardenia taught  _ Latin  _ (the only offering being an advanced section, since most witches were native speakers), as well as  _ Spell Etymology _ . While, Professor Blackwell was listed as teaching  _ Ritual Binding _ (the class Sabrina was currently taking), and  _ History of Witchcraft _ .

Nearing the end of the list, were seemingly new additions that she’d never heard anyone at the Institute discuss having taken. Professor Jewelle was teaching a new course called  _ Descensum and the Astral Plane, _ Professor Hughes was listed for  _ Resurrection and Necromantic Rites,  _ while Nick had his usual levels of Conjuring with a new addition called Concilium, denoted by another asterisk stating that ‘enrollment is by headmaster’s appointment only.’

“What’s the Concilium class you’re teaching?”

“It’s not approved yet, I actually need to go to the council and make the case for its addition.”

She gives him a puzzled look, attempting to convey that he didn’t answer her question.

“Concilium is the ability to magically impose one's will onto another. If done correctly it allows a witch to control many parts of their target’s mind, their  _ actions… thoughts ... memories… _ It was previously thought to be too volatile of a magic to teach, but new scholarship on the subject suggests that it’s more subject to control than much of the witching community has believed for millennia.”

“So you’re teaching a course on mind control?” Sabrina questions.

Nick winces at her choice of wording, “somewhat, I guess. However, placing it in an educational context makes it easier to understand and learn about.”

“Really? They won’t let you teach physical apparition but this is somehow okay?” She asks, flabbergasted at the thought of other witches at the Institute ordering each other around like handmaidens for fun.

“It’s an emerging area, that was once only reserved for the most powerful of witches and warlocks. Having a class on it would be revolutionary. Help redistribute some of the power imbalances that have plagued the Churches of Night for so long,” he says passionately, his hands flailing around excitedly despite the fact he’s driving.

“And that power imbalance isn’t what benefited you? Allowed you to rise through the ranks?” Sabrina questions, thinking that he’s probably being a little bit of a hypocrite.

“You saw how all the other High Priests were  _ traditionalists _ , casting Caligari spells on their wives to force them into subservience. So many witches are unaware of the dangers of concilium-based magic, because it’s not taught.”

“Nick, I don’t know if you’ve really looked at some of the students at the Institute… but while brilliant, a lot of them aren’t exactly people I’d trust with that type of magic. Some of these witches are so manipulative and vindictive to begin with, I can’t imagine how they’d behave if they had access to magic like that.”

“I guess you have a point there, it’d just be nice to explore something like that for the Institute. A course that could completely revolutionize magical education...”

“I think that the new courses on necromancy and descensum should prove to be more than revolutionary,” she assures him, placing a hand lovingly on his leg to soothe him.

“Well, as you’ve already experienced with your first semester of classes. Witches don’t get to choose their own curriculums, they’re meticulously designed for them. Apart from select faculty members, the Council, Ambrose, and I, you’re the only other witch who’s laid eyes on that course sheet.”

“See, now that’s something that could be revolutionized, let witches choose their own classes,” Sabrina suggests with a compromise.

“We can’t have first years jumping into necromancy Spellman. If we let witches choose their course of study, foundational subjects like Latin and Sacred Geometry wouldn’t even exist,” he says with a chuckle.

“Would that be such a bad thing?” Sabrina teases, causing him to shoot her a look that says  _ you can’t be serious right now. _

After some more chit chat about the incoming students and the implications for the Institute, they turn onto a long road, covered by trees and a considerable distance from the main roads. They drive a few minutes, deeper into the woods, on a seemingly never ending road.

When they finally pull up to the buildings, Sabrina is constantly looking around. There’s so much to take in, and despite having been there before, even Nick is taken with the sheer size of the compound. Once they get out of the car, Nick takes this brief moment alone to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her in for a kiss.

“You said it was an  _ Inn, _ ” Sabrina states plainly, the multiple buildings and various structures throughout the place make it seem more like a resort than anything.

The grounds were adorned with various tents in addition to the three hundred guest suites the Inn provided, participation from additional covens meaning a much larger turn out than anticipated. Thankfully, the area was enormous, with significant acreage, all of it exclusively dedicated for their Lupercalia Festivities. 

One of the perks of patronizing warlock-owned businesses, is that there’s already a desecrated church on the premises, so there was no need to construct their own.

All the new students would be joining as well, which was another headache Sabrina hadn’t anticipated. She found herself wondering;  _ why are they allowed to participate when they hadn’t even attended a proper class yet?  _

Her mind drifts from that thought. Sabrina becoming all too aware of what being on the grounds, standing next to Nick, meant for her.

“Well, I need to get inside and speak with Father Hubbard, he’s a former High Priest in the Church of Night, and happens to be the proprietor...” Nick says, extending a hand in case she’d like to tag along.

“Wait,” Sabrina says suddenly, causing Nick to shift all his attention to her.

“This is my first Lupercalia...” she starts in a rare moment of vulnerability. Nick takes Sabrina in his arms and holds her close.

“I know, and I’m going to make sure it’s perfect,” he assures her with a kiss.

“I literally have no idea what to expect Nick. I mean, my aunties have told me about  _ the hunt  _ in passing, but other than that, all I know is that my Aunt Hilda thinks it’s some crazy bacchanal full of debauchery, while my Aunt Zelda called it a sensual festival full of orgiastic carnality. Frankly, I’m not sure which one of those scares me more,” she says with a nervous giggle.

Nick immediately knows how to address her concerns, “I love you Sabrina, but if you think I’m willing to share you at all, then you’re in for a rude awakening. It’s going to be  _ just us _ , and as much pleasure and love that I’m capable of providing you with. It’ll be extraordinary, so you can relax and attempt to alleviate yourself of whatever anxieties you might have, because I’m here and I’m not letting you out of my sight _. _ ”

Sabrina replies with a passionate kiss that brings Nick so far away from his surroundings that he almost forgets why they’re even there to begin with.

“Come on, let's go,” He says placing an open hand on the small of her back to guide her.

When they’re shown to their room, the most luxurious suite the inn offered, Sabrina immediately threw herself on the bed, as if the two hours they’d spent in the car had drained the life out of her.

“I hope you’re not too tired,” he teases with a wicked smile, Sabrina raises an eyebrow challengingly.

“And why exactly should I stay awake?” she challenged.

“I can give you a myriad of reasons, but I figured I should show you instead…” he joins her at the bed, lovingly kissing his way up her legs and body until he reaches her lips.

Her stomach did nervous flips, somewhat scared of the unknown, but overwhelmingly excited for everything and anything Nick had plans for this week.

Sabrina gets a more serious expression after he pulls away for air, “I trust you Nick.”

It was something perverse he felt, suddenly Nick was all too aware of the fact he was her first, and if everything went according to plan, he’d be the only person she’d ever be with.

Witches and Warlocks began to trickle in right on time. Ambrose, Tabitha, and Tobias served as guides, helping to make sure everyone knew where to be and when. There were some people in attendance from the high ranks of the satanic church, Nick’s celebration run by the Church of Lucifer had gained significant notoriety in the witching communities as  _ the  _ place to be. While the mortals had  _ Art Basel _ and _ the Met Gala _ , the witching world had Lucifer’s Lupercalia. Ironically, their mere presence was causing the younger witches to be on their best behavior, and polite behavior isn’t exactly with the spirit of Lupercalia.

Deciding to leave their bubble of bliss, Nick and Sabrina venture out to the main courtyard area, where most were mingling and socializing. After the evening’s dinner, the matching event was to take place under moonlight. 

While the Institute itself had a mystical air to it, Sabrina never felt so immersed in her other world as she did in this very moment. It might be due to the fact that, literally everyone on the property was a witch, all delighted and spirited to be celebrating Lupercalia in such a grandiose fashion.

She was shocked when she saw a hearse drive up, Sabrina spotted Zelda’s unmistakable fiery tresses from all the way across the lawn. Her Aunt Zelda and Father Blackwood both exiting. Ambrose had nearly cackled at the sight of seeing Father Blackwood sit shotgun, figuring that Zelda must have promised some wicked things for him to comply.

Sabrina saw Nick's jaw clench, clearly disgruntled at Father Blackwood showing up unannounced. On the other hand, he’d invited Zelda and Hilda as a surprise for Sabrina, so he should’ve considered that Faustus might be in attendance. She leaves a kiss square on his jaw before running to greet her Aunties.

At that moment, Nick decides that seeing the childlike excitement on Sabrina’s face as she ran to greet her Aunts, was worth whatever trouble Blackwood could attempt to stir up.

The menu for the dinner was carefully planned, a wide variety of the most decadent aphrodisiac foods had been selected. Plates of halved figs were passed, bowls of pistachios and ruby red pomegranate arils were laid on every table.

“I’m not going to be bound to the underworld with you if I eat this?” Sabrina asks playfully, picking up one of the decorative pomegranates. 

“Only for half of the year my love,” Nick teases in a near-whisper.

“What a tired tale, if only mortals were as keen on the love of Lilith and Lucifer as they adore their Greek and Roman Mythologies... All this media, fetishizing the idea of Hell and yet they’re still such hypocrites,” Ambrose philosophically quips, taking a sensual bite from a berry.

Sabrina watches on in amusement, all her peers around them seem eager to take a bite from her cousin, as with the spirit of Lupercalia.

“The crime in the tale of Hades and Persephone is the lack of free will. The False God represented by Zeus and the other Gods of Olympus, selfishly forced her to be away from her love for half of the year,” Tobias muses.

“It’s unrealistic, surely after tasting the fruits of the Underworld, she’d never desire to leave after discovering how delicious they were,” Tabitha adds, alluding to their own nature s, not breaking eye contact with Ambrose as she speaks.

Sabrina shifts in her seat, finding herself in a similar predicament to Persephone. Not that she’d even want to renounce being a witch anymore, she just thought of the fact she couldn’t, and it bothered her. While signing her name in the Dark Lords book was Sabrina’s decision, she couldn’t help but feel like she ate the same pomegranate seeds that Persephone did. 

She considers how nearly everyone at this table likely signed their name over without hesitation. Though none of them had the experiences she had, of consorting with mortals and knowing what life could be, without signing your soul over to the literal devil. 

Suddenly everything she’d pushed to the side came flooding back, the most important thought asking why the Dark Lord himself had sent she and Nick drinks as they met up with her  _ mortal  _ friends.

_ Was it a sign?  _

Like her dad’s teachings. Her father not only married a mortal, but created her in the process. His efforts to reform the Church of Night, had a few crucial components. But most importantly, his doctrine espoused the union of witches and morals. Not only just supporting it, but stating that it was their sacred prerogative to do so. The Dark Lord had sent over champagne; not just two glasses, but enough for her mortal friends as well. The message seemed clear to her now, she just wasn’t sure if Nick would agree.

“Sabrina?” Nick says, softly shaking her wrist. As if he’d been attempting to get her attention for a while now.

“ _ Huh _ ?”

“Are you okay?” he whispers in her ear.

“Yeah, sorry… I was just thinking,” she admits softly.

Nick quirks an eyebrow and leaves it at that, fully intending on questioning her about it later.

“We have the matching to attend to,” Nick states before standing up and leaving.

Giving Ambrose the cue to start corralling witches to the grand ballroom, where numerous may poles with streams of silk fabric flowing from the top were placed throughout the room. 

Nick and Sabrina overlooked the whole celebration below from a small balcony, once things got settled, Sabrina took a step back as Nick took command of the room.

“Welcome, one and all, to Lupercalia, the Festival of the Wolves. Based on the crowd, I think it’s safe to assume you all know how it works, and if not, sit out the first round to observe and learn. Take your places for the Matching, when the music stops, take a seat on the witch or warlock closest to you. Brother Ambrose, take it away.”

Ambrose begins to play the violin, a skill Sabrina didn’t know he even possessed. Knowing him, it’s probably just something he picked up while consorting with the Romantics.

While it was her first Lupercalia, Sabrina was shocked at the number of people. The sheer size of the gathering meant that the matching ritual had to be repeated a few times to ensure that everyone who desired to participate, did.

Sabrina couldn’t help but ask Nick for clarification on some things, “my Aunt Zelda said that the matching pairs you with a random warlock,  _ or witch _ … Is it actually randomized or?” 

“Most witches fix it in some way or another. It’s common practice and usually planned by both parties,” Nick says with a shrug, still watching below. The music suddenly stops and the witches all clamor for seats on who they desire.

“Would you fix it for me? So we get matched?” Sabrina asks.

Nick looks amused, “The matching isn’t obligatory, but if you want to partake for the fanfare of it, I’ll do as you wish Sabrina.”

“Oh, in that case, never mind. I just wanted to make sure we’d still be able to participate in the other events,” she says bashfully and Nick brings her close for a quick-yet-fervent kiss.

The dance goes on for a while, with seemingly never ending amounts of witches and warlocks waiting to be paired. Sabrina watches every group, leaning against the balcony and taking in the beauty of the event. The romantic dim lighting, the jewel toned streamers dancing around their axis, and the beautifully dressed witches and warlocks. All of it made her romantic heart sing, despite the fact that witches were much more focused on sex than romance.

When Sabrina broke away from Nick for a moment, she was approached by Tabitha.

“We’re throwing a little late night poolside get together. Students of the Institute only, it’s on the hush hush, so make sure not to let it slip to your man...” she says happily, seemingly a little drunk as well. The champagne was flowing freely at dinner, and honestly Sabrina couldn’t blame her for taking advantage of it.

“I might, I assume Ambrose will be there, since you got matched?” Sabrina asks and Tabitha confirms with an overexcited nod of the head. 

“Well, I hope to see you there!” she says giddily, running off in her heels, somehow more coordinated in heels while inebriated than Sabrina typically manages while sober.

She returns to Nick and wraps her arms around him, “did you know about the  _ unsanctioned  _ pool party tonight?  _ Institute Students only, _ ” Sabrina teases.

“I did,” Nick states plainly and Sabrina’s surprised.

“It’s sanctioned by the way, I gave Ambrose the go-ahead,” Nick adds.

“Then why-”

“You know witches Spellman, always wanting to do what they’re not supposed to. Saying something isn’t allowed is the best way to ensure a good turnout,” he teases with a smile.

“Tabitha wants me to go, but I think she might be a little too drunk to be thinking straight,” Sabrina says softly.

“You should go,” Nick encourages.

“They’re your classmates, and you should have a good time. Just keep your hands to yourself,” he adds the last part for good measure, causing Sabrina to gently smack his arm.

“I would never,” she protests.

Nick smiles at that and pulls her in for a kiss, “go have fun.”

The pool party was louder than one would expect for something that’s supposed to be “ _ on the down-low _ .”  Though everyone in attendance was a witch or warlock, the boisterous and rowdy crowd made it easy to forget that these weren’t just regular teenagers having a good time.

The scene was like every spring break movie Sabrina had seen, but it was mid-winter. The indoor pool enclosure was filled with bodies, with the steam billowing from the large jacuzzi looking more inviting with each passing second.

Sabrina scanned the room looking for familiar faces. A lot of the guests in attendance were either in the incoming class of witches at the Institute, or visiting from other covens. She sees Adeline, Ellie, and Madison getting cozy with some warlocks on the pool deck. Though given her liaison to that friend group is absent, she’s apprehensive about joining them. 

Her mouth forms the shape of an ‘O’ when she spots said  _ liaison _ in the jacuzzi getting to know her cousin in a way that’s more than she’d care to lay witness to.

She’s grateful when a rather enthusiastic Tobias is waving his arms around wildly to get her attention. She decides to go join them in the far corner of the heated pool. 

“Sabrina Spellman, witch of the hour!” Tobias exclaims with more excitement than she’s previously seen from him. 

She replies with an overexaggerated eye roll.

Sophia and Tobias are both in the water, their arms resting on the tiled edge of the pool. Endicott sits with his feet dipped in the water. As Sabrina approaches, he removes something tucked behind his ear.

“ _ Ignis incendium, _ ” he says a short incantation, looking rather pleased with himself with the object’s end is lit from a quick flame. 

She scrunches her nose, the potent smell of marijuana quickly invading her senses, as she joins the group, “ _ seriously _ ?”

Endicott gives her a cheeky smile, clearly unashamed at his own drug use. Taking a puff from the joint and coughing immediately after.

Sabrina enters the pool to the right of Sophia, getting as far away from the smoke as possible. She’s unsure as to whether her aversion is due to lack of exposure to the plant, or whether it’s just the unpleasant smell in general.

“I didn’t realize witches had so many shared vices with mortals,” Sabrina comments in distaste for the drug.

“It’s pretty much  _ just _ Endicott,” Sophia assures her.

Tobias splashes the lit joint with pool water.

“Come on!” Endicott bemoans his now soggy joint. 

“I’m a prefect  _ Endi _ , I have to set an example for these juvenile witches...” Tobias teases, his tone clearly sarcastic yet amused.

“That was my last one.”

“Conjure yourself a new one, or dry that one off. Just don’t smoke here, Sabrina clearly wasn’t into it,” Tobias states .

“It’s fine, I’m no-” Sabrina starts to protest, not wanting to be seen as a buzzkill by her peers.

“No, Endicott shouldn’t be smoking in here to begin with and you were visibly uncomfortable. We don’t knowingly subject our friends to situations they didn’t consent to… Isn’t that right  _ Endi _ ?” Tobias taunts provoking Endicott to throw the wet joint, hitting Tobias square in the chest.

It’s all good-natured and fun, then Tobias quickly gets up and out of the pool to chase a retreating Endicott. They’re running around the pool deck like children, pushing through crowds. When Tobias clearly has him cornered, Endicott barrels towards Tobias and tackles him, sending both of them flying into the pool. 

Onlookers break out into hysterics, while Sophia and Sabrina just share a look conveying the mix of annoyance and amusement they both hold for the two wet idiots that are flailing around in the pool.

More witches flood the pool house as the night rages on, and Sabrina can’t help but think how they’re definitely past the posted capacity limit for the room. Thankfully, Prudence and her sisters were surprisingly absent, to which Sabrina can’t help but wonder if they just weren’t invited. 

As she makes her way through the crowd on her journey back to Nick, she can’t help but feel like every set of eyes in the room are on her. It could just be paranoia, but the more reasonable explanation is that she’s being judged by everyone around her. 

Given that she and Nick have stopped their attempts at hiding their relationship, everyone knows about her and Nick being together; and despite the security she has in her relationship, she’s left wondering how it’s affecting everyone’s opinion of her.

Her entire life, Sabrina has always been a people pleaser. It’s undoubtedly something that her Aunt Hilda cursed her with. While she’s always been willing to go out of her way to help those around her, she’d be lying if she said it was only for selfless reasons. 

Sabrina loved feeling needed, and righteous. Being praised and rewarded for her efforts was her primary motivation for contributing to the greater good. She’d never admit that to anyone, and usually tried keeping it from herself. 

Typically, she was able to ignore that part, since the positive outcomes of her efforts almost always outweighed the self-service she got from whatever action taken. However, being around her peers in a small two piece and her relationship being common knowledge, she felt naked. Her ambition was exposed and she couldn’t help but feel like no one would think of her in that way anymore. 

Walking through the thick crowds without so much as a “ _ hey Sabrina, _ ” from some of her peers, was really getting to her ego. 

_ Did they hate her now that they knew she’s in bed with their Headmaster? _

“Sabrina!” Ambrose’s familiar voice calls after her, while she attempts to evade him, the crowd parts for her more popular cousin. 

They catch up right outside of the pool area, in an area a little more private, though still trafficked by those coming-and-going.

“You’re leaving early,” he remarks.

“I’ve been down here for almost two hours.”

“Right... Headed back to your room?” He prods and she just nods awkwardly, not sure what Ambrose even wanted to discuss.

“Let me walk you back,” Ambrose offers.

Sabrina considers refusing and just apparating instead, but a yawn escapes before she can protest. 

They walk through the halls, both having covered up with one of the waffle knit robes near the exit. Ambrose is rambling on about something but Sabrina’s mind is wandering too far off to even attempt to listen to what he’s saying.

“Is everything okay with you?” Ambrose asks bluntly, changing his tone to draw her attention.

“Actually… I can’t help but feel like everyone was staring at me tonight,” Sabrina says, feeling childish and a bit narcissistic now that she’s heard herself saying it aloud.

“They were,” he affirms, much to her surprise.

“I don’t know what I was expecting…  _ going public with Nick? _ How must that look to everyone else?” Sabrina starts chastising herself. 

 “Cous, I know your life was dramatically different before your Baptism, but it’s likely only jealousy from others. Your relationship isn’t all that abnormal for our kind...”

“It’s not even that Ambrose, I think it’s just, I don’t know… I feel like people are going to question everything I do from now on. Nothing will be because of my own merits anymore. I could put months of effort into something and now the response for everything I do will be diminished because I’m screwing the Headmaster,” Sabrina blurts out, her emotions having gotten the best of her to the point where she couldn’t shut up.

“You’re a Spellman, if anything your talents will be attributed to your bloodline,” Ambrose replies with a wink. 

Sabrina brings him close for a tight hug, Ambrose has been one of the few constants in her life and even if he was just attempting to cheer her up, it worked.

Once back in the suite she’s surprised to find Nick awake. Though he’s leaning back against the headboard with his nose buried in a book. At the close of the door, his attention is shifted to Sabrina, and he quickly abandons his spot on the bed to greet her with a kiss.

“Nick, it’s three am...” she protests sleepily.

He quickly puts her suspicions to rest, “I just wanted to make sure you got back safely.”

He wasn’t intending on a seduction tonight, knowing they’d both be emotionally exhausted from the day's activities. He starts shutting some lights off as she changes into a cozy flannel pajama set she brought with her. Letting out a sigh of relief once they’re finally laying in bed together.


	18. The Miracle

Despite Nick’s Satanic obligations requiring him to schmooze with visiting High Priests and the like, he’s more than content with delaying the social torture by hiding out in the suite with Sabrina.

They conjured themselves a lavish room service spread, and took it upon themselves to enjoy a leisurely breakfast-in-bed amidst the chaos caused by the visiting witches and warlocks.

Nick lets out a relaxed yawn and glances at the clock. A sudden rush courses through him as the realization that it’s already past noon sets in. People were surely expecting him to make an appearance by now.

Despite enjoying their respite from the festivities, he rolls off the bed and attempts to dress himself.

Though he enjoys justifying his absence by pretending he’s only doing it to conserve energy for the night’s Black Mass and Courting ceremony, Nick knows that all good things must come to an end.

He looks at Sabrina, laying on the bed with her head propped up on a pillow. Her eyes trained on the book he handed her earlier. Her teeth nibbling her bottom lip in concentration.

“I still can’t believe you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice,” Nick teases her.

“I’m working on it,” she states, pointedly gesturing to the book in her hand. 

“Besides, I don’t get swept up in the pages of romance novels like my Aunt Hilda,” she defends.

“It’s a classic piece of literature, surely they had it as required reading in your mortal studies?”

“I never really did the required readings,” Sabrina admits sheepishly, at Baxter she was rather reliant on Roz to summarize things for her. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t read, because she did, on _her_ terms.

“Is this something I need to take into consideration for your studies at the Institute?”

“As a matter of fact, I do all the required readings for my witch studies...” she insists before proceeding to elaborate.

“At least I’m actually learning new things at the Institute,” She reassures him of her dedication to learning at school.

It was something about Nick that pleasantly surprised her, he was incredibly well read. Whenever they shared domestic moments like this, he nearly always had his nose in a book. She theorized that his ambition was directly related to his seemingly insatiable thirst for knowledge, and given his aptitude for learning, it was no surprise he was successful as he appeared to be.

It was a trait she also saw in her cousin. Though she suspected that Ambrose’s vast internal library of knowledge was due to the boredom he experienced in his near-century long house arrest. Reading was one of the few things he had to occupy himself, so he’d always been somewhat of a walking encyclopedia when it came it matters of magic and the occult.

She wondered where Nick got his curiosity from. If she took a moment to be honest with herself, she didn’t know much about his childhood, or family. She knew he went to the Academy of Unseen Arts and studied with her father. She remembers the first time she met him, and how in an effort to relate to her he confessed he grew up without any family. Now she wondered what it actually was like for him.

“Well, I think you could learn a few things from regency period literature. Novels are one of the few mortal products that aren’t easily replicable with magic,” she raises her eyebrows in surprise, he’s made a reasonable point and witches aren’t known for acknowledging the accomplishments of mortals. 

Ambrose is a perfect example of this cynicism most witches regard mortals with. Constantly, going on rants about things like how the Notre Dame’s construction wouldn’t have been possible without witch assistance. While there’s bound to be some truth to a few of his claims, Sabrina’s always felt he was somewhat of a witch conspiracy theorist.

Then again, her Aunts and Cousin have witnessed centuries worth of history, so for all she may know, some of his more outlandish claims could be a first hand account.

“Well, I’ll be sure to take a closer look at your reading list,” she taunts back, not realizing that Nick was mentally constructing one for her at that very moment.

After hiding out for a few hours, reality comes back to haunt the pair. Knowing that they have to face the crowds of witches expectantly waiting on their High Priest, is enough to break their shared reverie. 

Nick is swept up by a few other High Priests, all wanting to get in a word with the charismatic young leader quickly rising through their ranks. 

While most were clamoring to get some time alone with him, Faustus Blackwood was avoiding him like the plague. He hadn’t known what to expect when Zelda had dragged him along for the ride. Typically he would’ve held his ground and not left the Academy of Unseen Arts. However, his decree through which the Academy would transition to a _warlocks_ -only institution, was unpopular with a variety of his fellow High Priests and he felt an intense desire to save face and spread his doctrine.

Many of his peers were expressing their distaste at his decision, having grown frustrated with the fact they were now forced to accommodate the influx of young witches that he’d left without a school and home.

So, while he partook in another coven’s Lupercalia festivities, he sent the Judas boys on a pilgrimage of sorts, in search of young warlocks without a home or place of worship. He’d had some leads given his existing resources, and a few people dedicated to tracking down orphaned and neglected Children of Night. 

Taking in orphaned witches and warlocks was a time honored tradition of the Academy, and was the sort of practice, that if neglected, would allow powerful warlocks like Nicholas Scratch to slip through the cracks. If his new philosophy for the Church of Judas were to stand a chance at competing with the increasingly progressive ideas currently gaining traction in the Satanic church, Faustus knew that he needed numbers. Numbers in the form of impressionable young warlocks that he could shape in his image. 

Nick had his hands tied, with Father Jessup and Father Gray both holding him somewhat captive in intense discourse.

He is thrown off guard when he sees no one other than the Anti-Pope enter the parlour. This was certainly not something he’d anticipated. The other two take notice and immediately join Nick in demonstrating their subservience.

“Your Unholy Eminence, I hadn’t received notice of your visitation. What a pleasant surprise,” Nick says, though if he were being truthful the surprise was anything but pleasant.

Methuselah trails in after him, as do some younger witches. One particularly voluptuous witch with the visage of an old Hollywood starlet.

“While the unholy land offers tradition and immense historical significance this time of year, I’ve heard numerous praises regarding your gathering and figured I must lay witness to it at some point, so what better time than the present?” Enoch muses with a wicked smile.

“Of course, I’m honored that you’ve chosen to celebrate with us, _though some prior notice would have been appreciated,_ ” Nick says sincerely, with the last part coming out a little snarkier than he intended it to. 

“Where is the fun in that Father Scratch? I give notice, a black carpet is rolled out, and I receive the same preferential treatment time and time again, I’d like to experience Lupercalia with my love, like a common warlock,” Enoch places his arm around the waist of the young thing.

Bearing witness to the pairing, Nick masks the feeling of disgust that floods him. Enoch is nearly a millennia old, and this young witch isn’t anywhere close to a century-old.

Seeing a wrinkled man, plagued by age, paired with a woman that by mortal standards is over ten generations younger… It's easy to allow the mind to wander to a dark place. Gray and Jessup both allow boisterous laughs to escape and the newcomers join the chorus of amusement. 

“This is my fiance, Anne,” Enoch introduces her.

“Enoch, you never mentioned an engagement?” Father Jessup questions in a lighthearted way.

“It’s a rather recent development, though there isn’t anyone else I’d rather live out my remaining years with,” Enoch assures, looking over at his fiance and appraising her figure.

Enoch’s attention shifts from the object of his adoration to Nick, “Nicholas, I intend to take Anne as my bride on the spring equinox. Should our Dark Lord fail to preside over the unholy union of myself and Anne, I am requesting that you solemnize our marriage.”

Nick wants to raise his eyebrows in shock, though the manner in which he must hold himself in front of his peers is wildly different than what he _wants_ to respond with.

He bites his tongue, and keeps any thoughts he has on the union to himself, “It would be my greatest honor, your unholiness.”

Father Gray, Father Jessup, and Methusalah, all seem to be at a loss for words. It’s difficult to elicit a reaction out of Methusalah under normal circumstances, so Nick can’t help but think he was unaware of the wedding plans to begin with.

“Enoch, if I may have a moment with you in private?” Nick questions and gestures to a separate enclave.

“Nicholas, what is it?”

“Well, I am supposed to lead our Black Mass service tonight prior to the Courting, however being that you’re present, I think it would be quite a treat for my pupils and guests to witness one of your papal liturgies...” Nick proposes hopefully.

“I hate to disappoint you, but as I’ve said, I am here to experience the lust and wonders of Lupercalian tradition through the lenses of a common warlock. I wish to have no additional duties or privileges for the duration of my visitation.”

“I see. Well, I expect to see you in attendance then,” Nick replies with a charming smile, though his mind is racing and for some reason he can’t help but feel like he’s under probation. 

Nick quickly excuses himself to summon Ambrose, making sure that he’s aware of the situation as well as where he is to take their surprise guests to before introducing him to the group.

“Enoch, Anne, Methusalah, this is Ambrose Spellman. He’ll be showing you off to your rooms now,” he says with a wave and a parting statement to all present, clearly eager to flee the space and retire to his room so he can have his existential crisis in peace.

As they walk out Nick hears the hearty laughter of Enoch. Teasing Ambrose for his past transgressions and the fact he’d pardoned him.

Once he’s back in his room, Nick finds himself unable to breathe, and it’s perhaps the first time he’s been thankful for Sabrina’s absence. He couldn’t bear for her to see him like this.

He’s had moments like this before, where the world comes crashing down bringing the sudden realization that charisma and intelligence only carries you so far in life.

Nick has almost always been able to sweet talk his way out of a situation, but tonight, his usual service wasn’t going to cut it. He needed to have a sermon so moving that the anti-pope wouldn’t dare question his station. If he failed, everything in his life would be in limbo, and Nick was unwilling to allow that to happen.

Despite knowing what he needed to do, he was unable to break free from the hyperventilating mess he currently was. Making strides to the sink area, he splashes cold water all over his face in an attempt to calm down. He hears the door open but ignores it, still opting to douse himself in the freezing water.  

“Nick,” Sabrina calls out to him.

Frustrated that he’s seemingly ignoring her, she heads over to his side. Immediately, she’s able to realize that he’s not okay.

“Nick, look at me,” she says, taking a washcloth and blotting at his face with it, forcing him to look at her in the process. She cups his cheeks and redirects his gaze to her.

“Breathe with me,” she instructs him, familiar with the process. 

Back when she was dating Harvey, she helped him through more panic attacks than she would’ve liked to. His father was a drunk, and tended to take out his emotional and physical frustration on his youngest, meaning that Sabrina was often left to pick up the pieces of a shattered son.

She takes a hand from his face and holds his wrist, rubbing soothing circles on the back of his hand. Once he’s able to actually match his breaths to hers, Nick is able to regain some composure. Though as quickly as it’s gained, it’s almost lost again at the fact that Sabrina's seen him like this. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” she offers tentatively. 

After a few more deep breaths, he realizes that he probably owes her an explanation for what she just walked in on, “The anti-pope showed up _unannounced._ ”

Her lips pursed slightly, as her mind tries to process what this means.

Given the situation, she thinks the way Nick reacted was completely justified. 

“I’m supposed to give Black Mass tonight and I can’t help but feel like they’re looking for me to screw up in one way or another...” he drabbles on nervously.

She steadies him, holding him in a way she can only hope is reassuring.

“There’s a reason you’re in the position you are Nick, and that reason is _you_. The first time I attended your Black Mass, I was completely captivated by everything you said, everyone in the room was. Don’t get too wrapped up in the fanfare of Lupercalia and just do your thing. Just be the same charismatic, compelling, High Priest I fell in love with. Because of you, I'm devoted to the Path of Night, where Father Blackwood was just pushing me away...”

Overwhelmed by emotion, he brings her to him in a desperate kiss. He doesn’t want to think about the future when he can just focus on the girl in front of him. 

She can tell it’s his attempt at distracting himself. While she’d usually object to being used like this, she has a feeling that Nick needs this.

Pulling away slightly, Nick holds her head still, his hand entangled in her platinum tresses.

He kisses her crown and whispers, “Thank you for that.”

At dinnertime, the banquet hall was bustling. It seemed that Nick wasn’t the only person disturbed by the Antipope’s sudden arrival. Despite wanting to sit with Nick and keep him company, Sabrina opted to sit with her classmates and friends. 

Tabitha pounced on Sabrina before she even had a chance to get settled, “Did you know about this?” 

“No one did, not even Nick,” Sabrina dismisses the accusation before stealing a vine of grapes from the centerpiece.

The situation was stressful for everyone, especially Tabitha, given how neurotic she is about being in the loop about things. Even Tobias, who was usually collected, was uncharacteristically bouncing a leg and taking nervous sips of his tea.

His presence was signaled with a wave of people getting out of their chairs, standing tall for their revered Antipope. Nick guided him into the room, while other High Priests trailed behind him. Only after they took their seats, did everyone else in the room let out a sigh of relief.

Sabrina noticed many people weren’t eating dinner, she’s about to question it when Endicott raises the same concern. She averts her gaze, not wanting to seem too interested, but also thankful that he was able to play the role of an oblivious man so she didn’t have to look naive.

“Why aren’t any of you eating, did we adopt some new fasting tradition I’m unaware of?”

The girls scrunch their faces in distaste, “eating before the courting is bad news...”

“After all, we can’t look bloated,” Adeline rolls her eyes, as if it’s the simplest idea and that she believes Endicott is an idiot for not fasting as well.

Sabrina’s eyes wander as her classmates bicker in the background, she’s focused on Nick, who looks respectfully engaged in conversation with the Antipope, and some blonde vixen dressed like a high-class escort.

Her attention shifts when she notices Melvin and Elspeth wandering aimlessly, taking advantage of some extra space at the end of their table, she attempts to get their attention. 

Failing at her task, but not wanting to flail her arms, Sabrina gets out of her seat to approach them.

“Sabrina,” Elspeth greets warmly and Sabrina is thankful for her kind demeanor. 

“Would you guys like to join me? I can introduce you to some of my classmates...”

They exchange a glance, “sounds good.”

Sabrina leads them back to the table, and gestures for people to shift over and fill in the spot she once occupied so there would be enough room at the end.

“Sabrina, who are your friends?” Tabitha questions, always one to dominate a conversation, whether she realizes it or not.

“This is Melvin and Elspeth, they were my classmates back at the Academy of Unseen Arts. I’ll go around in a bit of a circle… wait, where’s Ambrose?”

“He ran off,” Tobias fills in quickly while Sabrina continues to proctor introductions.

“Here’s Tabitha and Tobias, they’re both prefects at the Institute, so it’s best you stay in their good graces,” Sabrina says with a nervous laugh.

“There’s Ellie, Adeline, Madison, and Sophia...” she says gesturing at each girl one-by-one, they’re giving off more of a guarded vibe than Sabrina had hoped for but at least they’re not hostile.

Before Sabrina can get a word in, Endicott speaks for himself, “Endicott Delacroix, life of the party...”

“Quite the epithet,” Elspeth states, seemingly amused.

“Not what I would’ve chosen,” Tabitha states, biting her tongue.

“Oh and what would you have chosen?” he flirts.

“ _Manwhore_ ,” Adeline supplies with a laugh.

“Actually I was thinking ‘ _court jester_ ,’ but both get the point across...” Tabitha muses and Endicott rolls his eyes.

“Ladies, I thought we were beyond slut-shaming, _especially during Lupercalia_ ” Endicott retorts.

Melvin has always been somewhat of a wallflower, so it makes Sabrina genuinely happy when Tabitha and Tobias swap seats so he can attempt to genuinely strike up a conversation.

It’s something that Nick and Tobias have in common with each other, a certain magnetism that allows them to easily win people over and form close relationships.

Dinner is a slow event, while not particularly painful, it seems to go on forever. Nearly the whole table lets out sighs of relief when the Antipope stands to leave, thankful that they’re finally free to go.

While exiting the dinner hall, Tobias rushes up to Sabrina’s side. 

“Seems like the Antipope is awfully interested in our High Priest,” he muses.

“It would seem so,” she replies, looking ahead of her. 

Sabrina tries to show that she’s uninterested in the topic of conversation Tobias has attempted to initiate. She doesn’t know much about what’s going on, and it bothers her that everyone expects her to have the answers since she’s with him. 

“Enoch is pretty old…” Tobias says, clearly insinuating that he’s grooming Nick to be next in line.

“Nick has refused to be on the witches council numerous times… I don’t know if a papal appointment is something he’s planning on,” she admits.

Tobias’ eyes light up, like he’s pleased he finally managed to get some kind of intel from her. 

Sabrina on the other hand is nervous about the implications the Antipopes visit may have. _Will  Nick stay with her if he’s offered the station?_ It’s an answer she’s uncertain of, and it scares her.

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t pass it up. I don’t know of any warlock that would.”

“Can you drop it?” she nearly yells, clearly over their conversation.

Instead of taking offense at her attitude, Tobias looks at her shocked not realizing he’d struck a chord with her until she snapped, “I’m sorry Sabrina, I didn’t mean to.”

“I’d just like a few seconds of peace before Black Mass, that’s all.”

It was a long walk to the old church in the woods. A procession of witches and warlocks really showed just how many people were in attendance at the festival. There were many unfamiliar faces that she’d never made acquaintances with. In a red cloak, she’s thankful her head was covered, allowing her solo walk to the church to remain undisturbed.

Entering the desecrated church was something else, it was unusually ornate given the location. The traditional Roman Catholic decadence had since been remodeled in the image of the Dark Lord. The murals of angels were painted with overlays of demons representing the hierarchies of Hell. A pentagram mosaic lay artfully placed as a tiled floor near the entrance, and large sconces of fire were the only light source, yet they managed to brilliantly illuminate the large space.

The Antipope was seated in the front, the church filled quickly, and with a slam of the entrance doors Father Blackwood and her Aunt Zelda were the last ones to trickle in. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of Sabrina’s chest at the mere sight of Father Blackwood. She couldn’t help but hate the man, despite the fact she knew she had to remain civil.

Mrs. Wardwell appeared next to Sabrina, standing in the back of the church. 

“How have you been enjoying your first Lupercalia?” Mrs. Wardwell asks Sabrina, with a suggestive tone that would be extremely inappropriate for a teacher to use with a student if it weren’t for the fact they were witches.

With an air of awkwardness filling the space between them, Sabrina remembers this is the same Mrs. Wardwell, who had witnessed her get swept off her feet by Harvey. The same teacher that gave her feedback on an essay she wrote on familial love in her sophomore year. She’s briefly distracted by just how different Mrs. Wardwell truly is to the charade she put on at Baxter High.

“That’s none of your business,” Sabrina bites, clearly catching Mrs. Wardwell off guard with her attitude.

Lilith smirks to herself, surprised and impressed at Sabrina’s sudden ferocity.

Admittedly, the Antipope showing up was not something that Lilth had planned for, but the plan was already in motion, it was too late to stop what was going to happen. 

Ambrose enters the church quietly, everyone waiting on Nick. 

He walks over to Sabrina and pulls her aside, “Hey can you come help Tobias, Tabitha, and I with the anointment baskets?”

“I should really be here for Nick,” Sabrina dismisses the idea. 

“This is far more important Sabrina… _Please_ ,” her cousin pleads. 

“Fine,” she begrudgingly agrees with an eyeroll.

“We need to remove and replace all of the fruits, somehow they’ve managed to spoil in a single day. It’s a disaster,” Tobias states.

Sabrina gingerly picks up an apple, before abruptly dropping it on the ground. She's shocked to find that it’s rotted through with maggots, much like the mallum malus she’d picked from the Greendale Orchard days before her Dark Baptism. She can’t help but wonder if the fruit spoiling was an omen for the festivities to come.

“Well, we were told to prepare them ahead of time and when they were finished yesterday everything was perfect. Nothing even appeared to be on the verge of turning foul,” Tabitha defends.

Somehow they’ve made quick work of the baskets, loading them into the wheelbarrows to take into the woods. They take the back path into the forest going as a shortcut.

Tabitha whines, “wasn’t the hired help supposed to do this, handle all of this for us?”

“Yes, but you should’ve thought about the various responsibilities you might be given before demanding to be made a prefect,” Sabrina says and Ambrose chokes on a laugh. 

Finding Sabrina’s snarkiness to be hilariously out of character, even if they were still on edge from the Antipopes unexpected arrival. They head back towards the church, with over an hour remaining in mass they could at least expect to receive their unholy communion.

It’s only when the church is within eyesight that they notice an ethereal light radiating from within. 

“Unholy shit,” Tobias mutters and Ambrose starts running.

“What the fuck,” Tabitha says trailing hesitantly behind.

Ambrose swiftly goes to open the door, figuring they’re missing something terribly important, when the handle burns his skin causing him to wince.

“That might just have been the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced,” he states plainly.

“ _Holy water?_ ” Tobias suggests, and tentatively touches the handle with a single finger to confirm his suspicions. They try looking through the church windows but the light is too blinding.

“Nick is in there,” Sabrina whispers, seemingly uncaring about anyone else.

“Sabrina,” Ambrose warns, attempting to stop her. 

“If the church has been sealed with holy water, their powers are useless...” Tobias says soft.

“Still, there’s so many witches in there, it’s unlikely they’ll do much damage,” Tabitha says, trying to talk her way out of a death wish.

As if on cue, a loud voice commands the church, audible to the group outside as well.

“You were born of the darkest sin against God! The stain of Lucifer blackens your soul. God will forgive your original sin, as long as you vow to accept Him as your one true savior. And your bodies are then consumed and purified by the fire of righteousness.”

They all exchange glances. While the rest of them are hesitant, Sabrina’s made up her mind, “I’ve been baptised, I can open the door. I have to, for Nick.”

“ _Sabrina don’t,_ we’re no match without our powers,” Ambrose tries again.

“Are you forgetting the fact that Aunt Hilda and Zelda are in there as well?” she snaps before walking towards the door and slamming it open. 

She walks in on the torture of their coven and is met with the sight of at least a dozen angelic witch hunters, having bound the pews of witches with divine rope, effectively paralyzing the masses. The Antipope is tied to a rightside up cross that’s been reconsecrated. Nick is bound to a chair next to him, and Sabrina can’t look him in the eye. Two witches have been murdered and lay across the aisles, presumably having attempted to escape.

As she stares down death, she realizes that Ambrose may have been right, going in unarmed to face witch hunters with crossbows wasn’t the brightest idea.

The leader of the witch hunters acknowledges her, and somehow knows her by name.

“Stop! _Sabrina Spellman_! You have entered a house of the Divine God! Kneel before the Lord.”

“I kneel before _no one_!” She yells, enraged at the sight of her friends and family bound and held by these merciless beings.

She does the only thing she can think of and attempts to summon Hellfire, “Hear me, fire! Hear me, air-” 

She’s interrupted by two witch hunters creeping up behind her, and placing a crown on her head that immediately drains her energy.

“No spell casting in a house of the Lord. That crown ensures that.”

“Let them go,” Sabrina commands, in a last ditch effort to sound intimidating. 

“Kneel,” he offers with an outstretched arm.

“Pray with us,” the one who placed the crown on her head whispers in a sweet voice.

“Never,” Sabrina yells, unwaivering.

“Then, like Saint Sebastian, you will die, shot through with arrows.”

It happens so quickly she feels the arrow pierce her before she can even hear the crossbow shoot. Her Aunt Zelda wails in the background, but Sabrina fails to fall to the ground. Prompting the witch hunters to shoot an additional flurry of arrows to finish her off, grinning satisfactorily as she collapses to the ground.

Faustus Blackwood had always dreamed of watching Sabrina Spellman meet her end, but he would never wish such a death upon any witch. At the hands of a servant of the False God.

“Where were we? Oh, yes, we were praying,” the angel focuses on their Antipope, attempting to coerce him into submission. 

The angel kneels down to Enoch’s eye-level, “say it with me, Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor the arrow that flieth by day!"

Setting an example for the rest of the coven, the antipope valiantly refuses, “I choose death over your False God. _Ave Satanas_.”

This sets something off in the missionaries, their eyes nearly black in color, “your turn to burn.”

All eyes in the room are trained on their Antipope, engulfed in heavenly flame. So much so, that the rise of Sabrina Spellman takes everyone by surprise. 

“ _That’s enough,_ ” in a voice that is not her own, Sabrina Spellman takes control of the room. Her eyes white and glazed over, as if possessed. She’s floating six feet off the floor, with arrows still lodged in her chest.

An arrow flies through the room to hit her again, but it’s deflected right back at the witch hunter that shot it, piercing their lower abdomen. 

_"I offer you a chance to survive the night. Convert, Hunters. Take Lucifer Morningstar into your hearts, and I promise you mercy; but, you must say His prayer. O, Mighty Dark Lord, by whom all things are set afire "_

“Never!” one of them shouts in defiance, despite the fact that what they’re currently witnessing is not of this world.

_“Say the prayer! It's your one chance. Come on! Say it with me, or you'll burn in Hellfire.”_

The coven of witches joins Sabrina in prayer, compelled by the miracle they’re bearing witness to. Everyone in the room had heard the rumors that Sabrina had conjured Hellfire to defeat the Greendale Thirteen, but no one other than Mrs. Wardwell had lay witness to it. 

_“O, Mighty Dark Lord”_

Even the witch hunters join in, terrified of the consequences of what may happen if they don’t, “o, Mighty Dark Lord” 

_“By whom all things are set afire”_

_“_ By whom all is set afire.”

_“Thy power be thy path.”_

“Thy power be thy path”

_“Thy will be my desire.”_

“Thy will be my desire.”

_“In Hell as it is on Earth.”_

“In Hell as it is on Earth.”

_“Praise Satan!”_

“Praise Satan,” the last part is nearly whimpered by all of the witch hunters.

 _“Well done, but my, how quickly you turn on your False God...”_ Sabrina says disapprovingly, mocking their weak will.

“You're not a witch. What are you?”  The leader shouts.

 _“I am the Dark Lord's sword!”_ Sabrina shouts, her arms extended out and fire rising from her palms as she incinerates every witch hunter in one fell swoop. Azure Hellfire burns each and every intruder, the entire coven watching in disbelief.

She turns her attention to the deceased witch on the stage, “ _Arise, Sister._ ”

As the life force is returned to her body, the slit on her throat is healed.

Then the same happens with the warlock, “ _Arise, Brother_.”

The antipope is scorched beyond salvageability, his body nonexistent due to the heavenly flame that took him.

Sabrina burns the divine bindings that restrained the members of her coven before her body goes slack. Mrs. Wardwell is the one to catch her as she falls from her levitation.

Nick runs to her desperately, taking Sabrina from Mrs. Wardwell’s arms. Using every spell he can recall as he attempts to heal her.

Zelda and Hilda also rush over to her, the rest of the coven, while eager to get out of the church, are seemingly glued to their seats in shock. Nick, Zelda, and Hilda burst out of the church, rushing Sabrina to the main building, Ambrose, Tabitha, and Tobias join the group.

Methusalah, having been the only member of the witches council present, announces himself as interim Antipope, which garners a dirty look from nearly everyone as it seems rather untimely. Anne is being held by both Father Jessup and Father Gray, clearly traumatized by watching her lover go up in flames. Meanwhile, every witch and warlock still present try to process and talk through the events they just witnessed.

Lilith exits the church, rather pleased with the flawless execution of the resurrection. She wanders through the wood, seeking approval from her Dark Lord.

They carry Sabrina’s limp body to the small infirmary at the inn, everyone’s hard at work conjuring various items for Hilda while she flips through a book on healing wounds caused by heavenly weapons. Nick is by her side the whole time, casting protection spells and attempting to heal her, though healing is definitely not his strong suit. 

He takes his eyes off of her for one minute while mixing up a salve, and he jumps as he turns to her. Despite her injuries, Sabrina is sitting up and attempting to get out of bed. Pulling arrows out of her torso as Hilda shrieks at her to leave them in to minimize blood loss. It’s too late though as she’s already taken them all out. As much as Nick wants to be the first to hug her, Zelda fiercely pushes him to the side to hug her niece.

She pulls back and composes herself, while Hilda does the same. Embracing her niece then lifting up her shirt to inspect the wounds as she pulls away, unable to find where the arrows pierced her.

“Was this all a bloody joke?” Hilda questions hysterically.

“What’s going on, sister?” Zelda interjects.

“There are no wounds on Sabrina’s body,” Hilda states suspiciously.

Sabrina, who somehow knows everything now, is the one to answer, “Nick healed them.”

He looks taken aback by her statement, though he tried, he is most certainly not responsible for a perfect healing, even the most exceptional healers of their lifetimes wouldn’t be able to pull off such a thing. 

“You need to rest,” Nick states, still looking at Sabrina in disbelief. Reeling from everything he saw.

“I’m not tired, besides there’s the courting tonight,” Sabrina dismisses, causing Ambrose to break out in a fit of hysterical laughter.

Soon everyone but Zelda joins in, finding it hilarious that Sabrina is still concerned with Lupercalia despite the fact she just saved the entire coven and then some from total annihilation. 

"It's not happening tonight Sabrina,” Nick says and she pouts. He looks at her, incredulous that she’s upset about the courting right now.

“Well, seeing as she’s somehow miraculously healed herself, I guess we can all get some rest now,” Ambrose says in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“Fine, we’re talking about this in the morning Sabrina,” Zelda says sternly before waving them off.

After her family leaves, Sabrina pulls Nick aside, “we need to have the courting. It’d be blasphemous for centuries of tradition to be wasted because of a few witch hunters.”

Nick stares at her in shock, nearly unable to compose a sentence.

“Sabrina, they were literal Angels,” he grits out, frustrated that she seems so unfazed by the ordeal.

“Yes, and is that not what the False God wanted? To interrupt our festivities?” She challenges.

“The Antipope is dead, where’s the festivity in that?”

“Great… Am I going to get flack for not resurrecting him as well? I tried but there was nothing there...” she wonders and Nick still can’t get the shocked look off his face.

It’s a mix of fear, reverence, and desire, he’d witnessed his girlfriend perform a miracle. Consequently, he had nearly no idea how to function properly.

“How can you be so casual about this? I watched as you were shot, _six times,_ and you somehow managed to kill a dozen angelic missionaries, bring two witches back to life, and resurrect yourself with no visible injuries.

“I’m serious about you healing me. I didn’t do that Nick.”

“Then what _did_ you do? _How_ did you do that? We’re practically going to need a press conference tomorrow morning because of what everyone, _including the highest order of our kind,_ lay witness to in that church Sabrina.”

“I don’t really remember Nick, and I don’t know why I came back, but I’m sure there’s a good reason for it,” she dismisses.

“Now, how about we go collect everyone, and start the courting?” she suggests.

Nick stares at her incredulously and shakes his head before relenting, “Whatever you say Sabrina Spellman.”

Word spread fast that the Courting was still going to occur. Despite many witches being on edge and hesitant, the temptation to get answers for what had just transpired was far too great of a call for everyone to ignore.

As the witches gathered in the clearing in the woods, there were gasps as Sabrina and Nick approached. The last time that most of them had seen the pair, Nick was carrying Sabrina’s seemingly lifeless body out of the desecrated church.

As if on demand, everyone bowed before Sabrina Spellman. Even her most vocal opponent, Faustus Blackwood, took a knee to show gratitude for what she’d done. Methusalah, in his position of interim Antipope, who is supposed to bow before no one other than the Dark Lord, even bowed in honor of Sabrina.

Sabrina felt a weird feeling in her chest, an innate hunger that hadn’t shown itself to her previously. Coming into herself, and taking in the scene before her, she basked in the glory of it all. Seeing the most influential leaders of their religion and craft, bow to her.

Nick led their prayer, “To Sabrina Spellman, Child of Lucifer, _Daughter of Night._ ”

Seeing Nick kneel before her, also stirred something within her that she’d address later.

“Initially, given the trauma of what we’d all experienced at Black Mass. I intended to postpone The Courting. However, Sabrina, ever the adversary, insisted that we still partake in the event so as not to let the False God believe he holds dominion over our infernal holidays,” Nick announces, commanding the crowd and they all seem to agree, no one daring to oppose the decree of a witch that just saved their lives.

“Additionally, if you didn’t catch his announcement following Black Mass, Methusalah has appointed himself as interim Antipope since Enoch was murdered by the Angelic Witch Hunters..."

_"May he rest in Power, Ave Satanas.”_

“Ave Satanas,” echoes through the hordes of witches gathered before them.

“Tonight, you and your paramour, shall spend the evening together in unholy abstinence. Together, you shall go into the woods and re-enact the courting. Disrobe and anoint yourselves, lie under this blessed Lupercalian mood, and absorb the potency of the Goddess Selene herself.”

For a group of witches who were traumatized only hours ago, there was a surprising amount of excitement and chatter.

“Abstinence is encouraged…” Nick starts cheekily, before being met with the booing of a hundred witches.

“... in anticipation of the powerful release that concludes Lupercalia. However, should couples be moved to unite,” he continues, licking his lips and looking at Sabrina. 

He maintains his eye contact with her, “I'm sure the Dark Lord would not oppose.”

There are cheers at his addendum and Nick gestures to Tobias and Tabitha to give a run down of the contents of the anointment baskets.

Tobias starts, clearly playing up his charisma since he’s addressing a crowd of sexually-charged witches and warlocks, “The milk and blood are for the purification.”

Tabitha continues appraising the crowd, putting on the same sultry exterior Tobias had, “The oysters and figs are for fertility and virility.”

“And the cherries are for popping,” Tobias teased, holding a fruit in front of Tabitha’s lips as she took a fierce bite out of it for the fanfare of it all. 

The witches and warlocks erupted in raucous laughter at the sight of it, and Sabrina for once appreciated how ridiculous her friends could be.

Nick takes charge again, making sure he changes his tone to that of one less humorous, “Given the recent attack on our compound, I’ll give a word or two of caution. Each couple must stay together the entire night. Above all, do not stray from the path.”

He raises his eyebrows mischievously, “all manner of lust-filled creatures stalk the woods during the Lupercalia... Now, with the Dark Lord's blessing, let the Courting begin.”

At Nick’s cue, Ambrose blows a large ceremonial horn and everyone files out into the woods in pairs, or in some cases, groups.

Sabrina takes Nick’s hand, and in lieu of the stressful events of the evening, they head into the woods, eager to soak up the moonlight.


End file.
